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‘Other Christians are not true Churches’

Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

The statement brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders. "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries.

"It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church," the group said in a letter charging that the document took ecumenical dialogue back to the era before the Second Vatican Council.

It was the second time in a week that Benedict has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-1965 meetings that modernized the church. On Saturday, Benedict revived the old Latin Mass — a move cheered by Catholic traditionalists but criticized by more liberal ones as a step backward from Vatican II.

Among the council’s key developments were its ecumenical outreach and the development of the New Mass in the vernacular, which essentially replaced the old Latin Mass.

Benedict, who attended Vatican II as a young theologian, has long complained about what he considers its erroneous interpretation by liberals, saying it was not a break from the past but rather a renewal of church tradition.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Benedict headed before becoming pope, said it was issuing the new document Tuesday because some contemporary theological interpretations of Vatican II’s ecumenical intent had been "erroneous or ambiguous" and had prompted confusion and doubt.

The new document — formulated as five questions and answers — restates key sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus," which riled Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation."

The commentary repeated church teaching that says the Catholic Church "has the fullness of the means of salvation."

"Christ ‘established here on earth’ only one church," said the document released as the pope vacations at a villa in Lorenzago di Cadore, in Italy’s Dolomite mountains.

The other communities "cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession — the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ’s original apostles — and therefore their priestly ordinations are not valid, it said.

The Rev. Sara MacVane, of the Anglican Centre in Rome, said that although the document contains nothing new, "I don’t know what motivated it at this time."

"But it’s important always to point out that there’s the official position and there’s the huge amount of friendship and fellowship and worshipping together that goes on at all levels, certainly between Anglicans and Catholics and all the other groups and Catholics," she said.

The document said that Orthodox churches were indeed "churches" because they have apostolic succession and enjoyed "many elements of sanctification and of truth." But it said they do not recognize the primacy of the pope — a defect, or a "wound" that harmed them, it said.

"This is obviously not compatible with the doctrine of primacy which, according to the Catholic faith, is an ‘internal constitutive principle’ of the very existence of a particular church," said a commentary from the congregation that accompanied the text.

Despite the harsh tone, the document stressed that Benedict remains committed to ecumenical dialogue.

"However, if such dialogue is to be truly constructive it must involve not just the mutual openness of the participants, but also fidelity to the identity of the Catholic faith," the commentary said.

The top Protestant cleric in Benedict’s homeland, Germany, complained the Vatican apparently did not consider that "mutual respect for the church status" was required for any ecumenical progress.

In a statement titled "Lost Chance," Lutheran Bishop Wolfgang Huber argued that "it would also be completely sufficient if it were to be said that the reforming churches are ‘not churches in the sense required here’ or that they are ‘churches of another type’ — but none of these bridges is used" in the Vatican document.

The Vatican statement, signed by the congregation prefect, American Cardinal William Levada, was approved by Benedict on June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul — a major ecumenical feast day.

There was no indication why the pope felt it necessary to release it now, particularly since his 2000 document summed up the same principles.

Some analysts suggested it could be a question of internal church politics or that the congregation was sending a message to certain theologians it did not want to single out. Or, it could be an indication of Benedict using his office as pope to again stress key doctrinal issues from his time at the congregation.

In fact, the only theologian cited by name in the document for having spawned erroneous interpretations of ecumenism was Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian clergyman who left the priesthood and was a target of then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s crackdown on liberation theology in the 1980s.

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Iran slows enrichment

Iran has slowed down the expansion of its nuclear enrichment programme at its plant in Natanz, UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said.

The IAEA secretary general also said he was sending a team of officials to Tehran on Tuesday for discussions. Iran insists that its nuclear programme is for purely civilian purposes.

Tehran is under growing pressure from the US and EU to halt enrichment, and the UN has passed two resolutions and packages of sanctions against it.

So far Iran has been defiant, vowing repeatedly to install thousands of the centrifuges that, when run in a series, enrich uranium.

"We have seen a fairly slow development in commissioning new cascades," Mr ElBaradei said.

He said International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors had noticed Iran’s slowdown "in commissioning new cascades for the treatment of nuclear material" while on a visit to the nuclear facility at Natanz last week. Mr ElBaradei welcomed this.

"Iran needs to do everything to cool things down," he said. "[There is a] need to shift from the mode of confrontation to the mode of goodwill and co-operation."

Mr ElBaradei repeated a call for the United States to speak directly to Iran about Iran’s nuclear programme.

"I think that would help for in many ways for us to make progress. You need to understand where each other is coming from," he said.

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Nigerian kidnappers free girl

Nigerian kidnappers on Sunday released a 3-year-old British girl they had seized in the southern city of Port Harcourt, authorities said.

Unknown gunmen had snatched Margaret Hill from the car in which she was being driven to school while it was stuck in traffic on Thursday morning.

”We can confirm that she has been released back to her parents. She is fit and well,” said an official at the British High Commission in Abuja.

No further details were immediately available.

The girl’s mother said on Friday the kidnappers had called her, first demanding a swap between the daughter and the father, and later demanding a ransom. The amount demanded was unclear.

The kidnappers had threatened to kill the girl.

The High Commission official said he did not know whether a ransom had been paid.

Abductions for ransom are common in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where Port Harcourt is located, although it is rare for children to be targeted.

The abduction of the toddler caused outrage in Nigeria, including among militant groups in the Niger Delta who said it undermined their campaign for greater local control of oil revenues.

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Kremlin flexes and a tycoon reels

Last January, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, a 42-year-old Russian mining tycoon and a multibillionaire, celebrated the holidays in singular style: with dozens of business associates and an entourage of young Russian women at the exclusive ski resort of Courchevel in the French Alps. The vacation, the French police would later say, featured a private concert by Zveri (the Beasts), a popular Moscow rock group, as well as wads of cash left lying around hotel rooms.

Mr. Prokhorov — tall, svelte, intense and often called Russia’s most eligible bachelor — usually unwound at such blowouts and he once told an interviewer that partying embodied his personal philosophy. His antics in Courchevel, where the police detained him for four days on suspicion of making prostitutes available to his guests, even drew the attention of Nicolas Sarkozy, then the interior minister and now the president of France, who quipped to journalists: “There’s a man who aims to please.” (French police released Mr. Prokhorov without charges but identified him as a witness in their investigation.)

Pleasing friends is one thing. Pleasing Vladimir V. Putin, Russia’s president, is quite another. In one of the more bizarre cases of an apparently forced sale of Russian assets, Mr. Prokhorov’s festivities in Courchevel led — as the byzantine channels of power and wealth in Moscow so often do these days — to his agreement to sell his 26 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest nickel producer. The buyer was Vladimir O. Potanin, his longtime business partner and a favorite of the Kremlin.

Mr. Prokhorov and Mr. Potanin bought a controlling stake in Norilsk, named for the hardscrabble Siberian city where it is located, for a scant $250 million during the hotly contested privatization of state-owned companies in the mid-1990s. Today, Norilsk produces one-fifth of the world’s nickel, a key alloy in stainless steel, and has a market capitalization of $31.9 billion; its profits doubled last year, to $6 billion, buoyed by high demand for steel in China. Awash in cash, Norilsk in late June closed a deal to buy the Canadian mining company LionOre for $6.4 billion and already owns a controlling interest in the Clearwater Mining Company in Montana.

In an interview on state television, Mr. Potanin said he ended his partnership with Mr. Prokhorov, who Forbes magazine estimates has a net worth of $13.5 billion, because of the embarrassing arrest. They have yet to complete the deal, but the partners said they would unwind their businesses before year-end, leaving Mr. Potanin in control of Norilsk. And who, ask some analysts in Moscow, controls Mr. Potanin?

“In Russia today, no serious deal can be made without approval from the Kremlin,” said Irina Y. Yasina, a researcher at the Institute for the Economy in Transition, a research group led by a former prime minister, Yegor T. Gaidar. “A person like Potanin, without the agreement of the Kremlin, can do nothing.”

Under Mr. Putin, the Russian government is establishing vast, state-owned holding companies in automobile and aircraft manufacturing, shipbuilding, nuclear power, diamonds, titanium and other industries. His economic model is sometimes compared with the state-owned, “national champion” industries in France under Charles de Gaulle in the 1950s. The policy of forcing owners of strategic assets to sell their holdings has also been compared to recent nationalizations in Venezuela and other Latin American nations.

Rather than expropriating assets outright, Mr. Putin’s government has exploited minor legal infractions at the target companies to force sales. Either government-controlled companies, or companies run by men seen as loyal to Mr. Putin’s Kremlin, are the beneficiaries.

In 2003, for example, prosecutors went after Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, chairman of Yukos Oil, then Russia’s largest private company, on accusations of tax evasion. Mr. Khodorkovsky was sent to a Siberian prison, and Yukos went bankrupt. The state company Rosneft later acquired most of Yukos’s assets. Last fall, it was environmental infractions in pipeline construction that forced Royal Dutch Shell and Japanese partners to sell a controlling stake in their $22 billion Sakhalin II oil and gas development to Gazprom, the state gas monopoly.

Then, this June, BP’s local joint venture, TNK-BP, sold its share of a huge gas development after regulators threatened to revoke the license because the field was developed too slowly, which was a technical violation of the terms of TNK-BP’s license. Gazprom, again, was the beneficiary.

Coincidentally, Mr. Prokhorov and Mr. Potanin own a minority stake in that same BP gas field. Their 26 percent stake was not touched, perhaps because of Mr. Potanin’s close ties to Mr. Putin. But in the case of Norilsk, Mr. Prokhorov’s arrest, analysts say, seems to have been a fortuitous accident that gave the Kremlin cover for exerting more control over this strategic metals company.

Mr. Prokhorov and Mr. Potanin both declined to be interviewed. But the end of their partnership is yet another milestone in how the Kremlin and a class of ambitious, enormously wealthy Russian businessmen known as oligarchs do business together.

“Property rights are very conditional in Russia, to this day,” said Olga V. Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences who studies Russia’s business and political elite. The government lets big industrialists “exist only under conditions it considers acceptable,” she said, adding: “When the Kremlin considers a capitalist such as Prokhorov no longer acceptable, he is deprived of his property, by one means or another. Private business exists only by the grace of the state.”

In Norilsk itself, a dirty, desolate city 1,900 miles northeast of Moscow, Mr. Prokhorov’s extravagant lifestyle raised hackles. The city began as a slave labor camp for political prisoners and common criminals in the 1930s, expanding quickly in the 1940s with an influx of prisoners of war. The town’s name, like perhaps no other place in Siberia, is evocative of hardship and the gulag.

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What planet do they live on?

As Madonna bounds on to the huge Wembley stage to save the planet, how the assembled Greenies will cheer.

The superstar is today fronting the massive Live Earth event, with nine concerts played over 24 hours across seven continents before an audience of two billion.

The much-hyped bid to save the world is being masterminded by former U.S. vice president Al Gore – who helped focus attention on the environmental movement with his Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth – and features artists including The Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers, UB40 and Metallica.

No doubt to rapturous applause, Madonna will call for mass global change to reduce carbon emissions and to tackle ‘climate crisis’.

Watching the veteran star lap up the adoration, her entourage could, however, be forgiven for exchanging slightly jaded glances – having witnessed her jet in for the concert from New York.

For her 2006 World Tour, she flew by private jet, transporting a team of up to 100 technicians and dancers around the globe. Waiting in the garage at home, she has a Mercedes Maybach, two Range Rovers, an Audi A8 and a Mini Cooper S.

Indeed, Madonna’s carbon footprint is dwarfed only by her ego – she has vowed that she will ‘speak to the planet’ at Wembley. In fact, an apology might be in order – for the superstar’s energy consumption is only the tip of the iceberg in this epic vanity-fest.

The Live Earth event is, in the words of one commentator: "a massive, hypocritical fraud".

For while the organisers’ commitment to save the planet is genuine, the very process of putting on such a vast event, with more than 150 performers jetting around the world to appear in concerts from Tokyo to Hamburg, is surely an exercise in hypocrisy on a grand scale.

Matt Bellamy, front man of the rock band Muse, has dubbed it ‘private jets for climate change’.

A Daily Mail investigation has revealed that far from saving the planet, the extravaganza will generate a huge fuel bill, acres of garbage, thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, and a mileage total equal to the movement of an army.

The most conservative assessment of the flights being taken by its superstars is that they are flying an extraordinary 222,623.63 miles between them to get to the various concerts – nearly nine times the circumference of the world. The true environmental cost, as they transport their technicians, dancers and support staff, is likely to be far higher.

The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists’ and spectators’ travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, who specialises in such calculations.

Throw in the television audience and it comes to a staggering 74,500 tonnes. In comparison, the average Briton produces ten tonnes in a year.

The concert will also generate some 1,025 tonnes of waste at the concert stadiums – much of which will go directly into landfill sites.

Moreover, the pop stars headlining the concerts are the absolute antithesis of the message they promote – with Madonna leading the pack of the worst individual rock star polluters in the world.

Sepermodel Kate Moss, another profligate polluter through her use of private jets, is producing a T-shirt for the event. Yet, Gore is touting the concerts as ‘carbon neutral’. So how can that be?

Let us start with some facts. Worldwide, an audience of around 1,268,500 is expected to attend the concerts – making it one of the largest global events in history.

Dr Andrea Collins, an expert in sustainability from Cardiff University, has researched the impact of such mass gatherings on the environment.

"An event of this size at Wembley – which holds 65,000 at a rock concert, will generate around 59 tonnes of waste," she says. "That is largely composed of the rubbish from food and drink consumption."

She found that a Wembley-sized football match generated an ‘ecological footprint’ of 3,000 global hectares – an area the size of 4,166 football pitches. This is the amount of bioproductive land required to absorb the C02 emissions produced by such an event.

The concert organisers are preaching carbon neutrality – but isn’t that just a guilt-free excuse?

Dr Collins estimates that the global audience for Live Earth will generate some 1,025 tonnes of waste. An extraordinary one million people are expected at the free concert at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach, featuring Lenny Kravitz, Macy Gray and Pharrell Williams.

Other venues including the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg – where Joss Stone is performing – will cater for audiences of tens of thousands.

Live Earth say that they will recycle much of the waste generated. Fine talk, but in fact some of the concert venues are struggling to keep up with their commitments.

A spokesman for Wembley says they only have the capacity to recycle around a third of waste produced – the rest will go into landfill sites.

Travel forms the vast majority of the ‘carbon footprint’ talked of by ecological campaigners – contributing up to 90 per cent of the environmental ‘cost’.

Collins says: "It is patently absurd to claim that travel of this nature doesn’t have an impact. Each person attending the event will have to make a return journey to the venue, be it by air, rail, bus or car. This burns fossil fuel – precisely what we are trying to reduce.

"There is also the environmental cost of these artists flying around the world – that is absolutely huge."

Indeed, an audit of the lifestyles of the A-list performers appearing at Live Earth, reveals that they are among the worst individual polluters in the world, as their world tours and private jets billow thousands of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. One hour in a Gulfstream jet burns as much fuel as driving a family car for a year.

The Daily Mail has found that five of the top performing acts together have an annual output of almost 2,000 carbon tonnes. Madonna alone has an annual carbon footprint of 1,018 tonnes, according to John Buckley.

Remember, the average Briton produces just ten tonnes.

The veteran pop singer’s Confessions tour last year produced 440 tonnes of carbon pollution in just four months, simply in flights between venues. This does not include the trucks required to transport equipment, the power needed to stage each show, or the transport for fans travelling to each concert.

Rock group Genesis re-formed last year and are in the middle of their European tour. The three-man band will fit their Live Earth performance into a tour of at least 47 locations across the world. Their carbon footprint last year totalled 195 tonnes.

James Blunt, another Wembley performer, completed his world tour of the U.S. last year, racking up a carbon footprint of 195 tonnes.

American band Red Hot Chili Peppers have, like Madonna, flown in to Wembley from the U.S.. They have produced 220 tonnes of carbon dioxide with their private jet alone over the last six months.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail has learnt that Bon Jovi left the UK this week to travel back by private jet to the U.S. to perform at the New York stadium for the American leg of Live Earth.

Music impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ex-wife Sarah Brightman is being flown out to sing at the Shanghai concert in China. This is a distance of 5,679.95 miles, producing one tonne of carbon dioxide pollution.

Two other acts have already been criticised for being paid to promote fuel-guzzling cars. John Legend is featured in a Lexus advert, while Sheryl Crow’s hit Everyday Is A Winding Road is used to sell Subaru 4WDs.

Plans for concert organiser Al Gore to appear at the event in both Britain and America on the same day were scuppered due to fears of the backlash it would cause

Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell has been criticised for urging people to drive electric eco-scooters – but buying a 1,000cc Moto Guzzi bike – described as ‘a monster-revving beast’.

Such is the level of disquiet felt about Live Earth in New Zealand, that a pressure group called the Climaction Coalition, is urging people to protest against it on July 7. Radiohead, who are pioneers in eco-friendly performing, have refused to appear. Of course, Live Earth is doing its utmost to ensure the event is ‘green’ in appearance at least – stars will be ferried between the stage and dressing room by energy-efficient Smart Cars and biodiesel fuelled Mercedes.

A proposal for Gore to appear at concerts in Britain and America on the same day – something that Phil Collins, the Genesis drummer and singer, was able to do at the original Live Aid in 1985, courtesy of Concorde – has been dropped because of the anger that the ‘gas-guzzling’ flight would provoke.

Andrea Robinson, Live Earth’s green manager, says her message to celebrities is: "Leave the Learjet at home – fly commercial."

Wembley Stadium will be lit using low energy fluorescent lightbulbs, while the backdrop is composed of recycled tyres and oil drums. The organisers tried to introduce re-usable cups for interval refreshments, but found that – like many green strategies – this was not practical on such a huge scale.

Some bio-produced plastic, made from corn, will be used, and artists’ changing rooms will be fitted with energy-saving lightbulbs – all rather a drop in the ocean compared to the pollution generated by fans traveling across the UK to the concert or using the stadium’s 2,618 toilets. Plans to ask the British public to turn off their electrical appliances during the Live Earth broadcast were scuppered when the National Grid pointed out that as everyone switched on again, a giant power surge could cripple the country.

Some stadiums are greener than others. The Aussie Stadium in Sydney will run the event on 100 per cent green energy supply. Each Australian Live Earth ticket comes with a free public transport voucher, while all the bathrooms will be waterless with waste being composted into fertiliser.

Conversely, in New York’s Giants Stadium, trade unions have blocked Live Earth’s attempts to recycle, and the 52,000-seater arena is not situated near public transport. The smallest – and least polluting – concert will be held at the British Antarctic Survey’s base in Rothera.

Bizarrely, the concerts are also being ‘independently audited’ by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers over the next seven weeks, to assess the level of pollution they will have generated.

It is unclear what benefit this exercise will have, although the Live Earth organisers talk in terms of providing a ‘legacy’ for future events, showing how recycling and low-impact travel can be encouraged, and carbon-offsetting used. But the fact remains – massive rock concerts are hardly eco-friendly.

So just how does Gore claim that Live Earth will be carbon neutral? He does so by convenient use of ‘carbon offsetting’ – a trendy new method of absolving yourself of guilt.

Carbon offsetting involves ‘neutralising’ the emissions you are responsible for by buying ‘credits’.

A spokesperson for Live Earth says: "This might involve buying environmentally sound lightbulbs for a Third World school, planting trees, or installing solar panels in a developing country."

A huge industry has sprung up to provide corporations with carbon credits.

However, critics say that the practice is simply a way for consumerist industries and nations to export their responsibility to developing countries. Others say it simply does not work.

Carbon-offsetting is, it turns out, how celebrities square green issues with their extravagant lifestyles and use of private jets.

Jon Bon Jovi has said: "We wrote a cheque, we took care of our footprint and raised awareness, blah blah blah."

When Gore – who himself spent eight years flying on Air Force Two – was asked if he had persuaded Madonna to stop using private jets, he said: ‘Well, I appreciate and respect her as an artist and as a person, and there are many artists who are offsetting their role in contributing to the CO2 build-up, and I understand that.’ A rather longwinded way of saying ‘no’.

Madonna has, however, been given an instruction handbook on climate crisis by Live Earth.

John Rego, the environmental director of Live Earth, says he expects to purchase at least 3,000 tonnes of carbon credits to off-set the event. It is believed the organisers will spend in excess of £1million on carbon offsetting to counter criticism.

Rego explains: "All the events are carbon neutral. We have chosen a reforestation and reagricultural project in Mozambique. It is a credible certifiable carbon-diffused project. We are in the process of purchasing a carbon offset."

Dr Collins says: "Taking a flight and planting a tree does not add up. It does not make it all right. It is having your cake and eating it."

Dr John Barrett, from the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, says: "There is a huge irony in flying halfway across the globe in a private jet, eating up fossil fuel.

"The idea that you can offset the pollution you cause is just ridiculous. What these people at Live Earth have done is defined their boundaries to suit themselves, but there is no sense in which this concert is carbon neutral.

"Planting trees or investing in renewable energy does not reverse the damage of releasing huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the environment.

"It is far better not to pollute in the first place. Carbon offsetting can be a removal of guilt, but it is not an effective one."

Live Earth is encouraging ‘citizens of the world’ to take small steps: share a car, plant a shrub, turn off a light or hang out washing rather than use a dryer.

But Dr Barrett says: "It would be far better for these celebrities to stay at home. Holding large concerts to highlight environmental concerns and cut carbon emissions just seems ridiculous. What planet do these people live on?"

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Gazprom `army` approved

Russian gas giant Gazprom and pipeline monopoly Transneft will be given the right to set up armed security forces under a bill passed by Russian lawmakers on Wednesday.

The bill allows the two state-controlled companies to use guns and anti-riot equipment such as tear gas to prevent attacks on pipelines and other installations "necessary for state contracts."

Gazprom or Transneft Security Officers would also be given the same rules of engagement as state law-enforcement bodies, which are much broader than for private security companies.

Russian pipelines have come under attack numerous times by separatist rebels and Islamist fighters in the war-torn north caucaus region and other parts of Russia in recent years.

Critics said the bill would allow for the creation of private armies.

"This law envisages the creation of corporate armies … we are opening a Pandora’s Box because there are other companies that will now strive to set up their own army," said Gennady Gudkov, a lawmaker from the A Just Russia Party.

Under current legislation, companies such as Gazprom and Transnet are only allowed to hire external security firms, which have limited rights on bearing and using weapons.

The bill has now been sent to the Federation Council, the Upper House of Parliament, and will then be put before President Vladimir Putin for final approval.

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Nigerian kidnappers want white dad

The mother of a three-year-old British girl snatched in Nigeria has said the kidnappers phoned and threatened to kill her daughter.

Margaret Hill, the daughter of Oluchi Hill and oil worker Mike Hill, was kidnapped yesterday as she travelled to school by car in Port Harcourt, in the south of the country.

Margaret’s mother said the kidnappers threatened to kill her daughter unless Mr Hill agreed to take the child’s place.

She told the BBC they had called yesterday morning and demanded a meeting in a town in the Niger delta. They then allowed her to speak to her daughter, who was crying.

Mrs Hill, a Nigerian national, said the kidnappers told her to meet them in a town in Bayelsa state, but said neither she nor the police had been able to locate it.

"They say I can bring my husband to swap with the baby," she said. "He wanted to go down for his baby but the police commander told him not to."

She said the kidnappers then threatened to kill Margaret if Mr Hill did not come within three hours. She had not heard from them since.

Police and diplomats were today frantically working to help secure Margaret’s release.

Kidnappers smashed a window as the car carrying Margaret sat in heavy traffic and grabbed the toddler, according to an official at the British high commission.

Mr Hill, who has lived in Nigeria for 10 years, is originally from Murton in Co Durham. It is believed he works for the Nigerian-based drilling firm Lonestar.

The Foreign Office yesterday called for the "immediate safe release" of the girl.

"We do not know who took her. We are in contact with her parents and are providing assistance," a spokeswoman said.

"High commission officials are in contact with the Nigerian authorities. We call for her immediate safe release."

Kidnappings have become an almost weekly occurrence in the south of the country, where many foreign oil workers are based.

More than a dozen foreigners are currently in captivity and more than 200 have been taken since the end of 2005.

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A burning smell enveloped the kitchen…

U.S. diplomats in Iraq, increasingly fearful over their personal safety after recent mortar attacks inside the Green Zone, are pointing to new delays and mistakes in the U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad as signs that their vulnerability could grow in the months ahead.

A toughly worded cable sent from the embassy to State Department headquarters on May 29 highlights a cascade of building and safety blunders in a new facility to house the security guards protecting the embassy. The guards’ base, which remains unopened today, is just a small part of a $592 million project to build the largest U.S. embassy in the world.

The main builder of the sprawling, 21-building embassy is First Kuwaiti General Trade and Contracting Co., a Middle Eastern firm that is already under Justice Department scrutiny over alleged labor abuses. First Kuwaiti also erected the guard base, prompting some State Department officials in Washington and Baghdad to worry that the problems exposed in the camp suggest trouble lurking ahead for the rest of the embassy complex.

The first signs of trouble, according to the cable, emerged when the kitchen staff tried to cook the inaugural meal in the new guard base on May 15. Some appliances did not work. Workers began to get electric shocks. Then a burning smell enveloped the kitchen as the wiring began to melt.

All the food from the old guard camp — a collection of tents — had been carted to the new facility, in the expectation that the 1,200 guards would begin moving in the next day. But according to the cable, the electrical meltdown was just the first problem in a series of construction mistakes that soon left the base uninhabitable, including wiring problems, fuel leaks and noxious fumes in the sleeping trailers.

"Poor quality construction . . . life safety issues . . . left [the embassy] with no recourse but to shut the camp down, in spite of the blistering heat in Baghdad," the May 29 cable informed Washington.

Such challenges with construction contracts inside the fortified enclave known as the Green Zone reflect the broader problems that have thwarted reconstruction efforts throughout war-torn Iraq.

The "fairly serious problems" noted in the cable indicate that First Kuwaiti’s work fails to meet basic safety standards, said an administration official who was not authorized to speak to the news media. But the State Department’s Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), which oversees construction of the new embassy, has kept a "close hold" on the project, making it difficult for anyone else in the government to gauge progress. "We are suspecting we will find the same issues in the new embassy," resulting in months of delays, the official said.

The embassy cable prompted a stinging response from James L. Golden, OBO’s managing director for the embassy project. In a cable dated June 8, he berated personnel in Baghdad for sending their message over an open embassy system, rather than keeping the complaints in-house. He defended First Kuwaiti and accused the embassy and KBR — a Texas-based company that runs many facilities in Iraq and discovered the wiring problems — of making false claims to deflect attention from their own errors.

The guard base "has been constructed to the approved design specifications," Golden wrote, adding that "none of the issues raised in the cable has merit" and that "it appears [the embassy] and KBR simply do not want to operate the camp for other reasons."

KBR said its concerns were justified. "Safety remains KBR’s top priority," said Heather L. Browne, the firm’s director of corporate communications. "Our initial assessments determined that the issues identified were not linked to KBR’s work and in fact inspection reports from the [State Department] confirm that KBR was not responsible for the safety issues identified."

The tough exchanges between Baghdad and Washington reflect some of the tensions as the State Department rushes to complete the embassy this year. Originally, the new guard base — estimated to cost about $22 million — was due for completion in January, but deadlines were missed. OBO certified that the camp "meets and exceeds" its contract requirements in a letter signed April 14 and provided by First Kuwaiti. The new delay in moving the guards may affect plans to build temporary housing for maintenance workers and contractors hired to help run the new embassy, which is scheduled to be completed in the fall.

An embassy spokesman declined to comment, referring calls to Washington. Pat Kennedy, director of the State Department’s Office of Management Policy, said that the embassy cable was a "frank discussion" of its concerns but that the embassy now "is satisfied with the process we have put in place to address these issues." He said he was "not prepared to make the large leap" that concerns about the guard base might also apply to the larger embassy project.

Retired Maj. Gen. Charles E. Williams, the director of OBO, who was formerly with the Army Corps of Engineers, declined to be interviewed. "It is internal business," said his special assistant, Phyllis A. Patten-Breeding.

First Kuwaiti’s labor practices are already under investigation by the Justice Department amid allegations that foreign employees were brought into Iraq under false pretenses — such as being told that they were to work in Dubai — and then forbidden to leave because the company had confiscated their passports. First Kuwaiti has called those accusations "ludicrous."

Samir Ida, the company’s construction director, said that the guard base was completed to "all specifications." He provided an e-mail from an OBO official who described it as "one of the better built camps" in Iraq. "The U.S. Embassy is still in the process of being constructed, and while some work remains, First Kuwaiti has not been informed of any issues relating to substandard work," he added.

After the electrical problem was discovered and no quick fix seemed available, the embassy was forced to serve the guards MREs (meals-ready-to-eat) for several days until all the food could be moved back to the old housing, known as Camp Jackson, according to the embassy cable’s detailed account. The original plan was for the guards to wait only one or two weeks before the electrical issues were fixed.

But the problems mounted. The 252 prefabricated residential trailers, with either two or three rooms each, filled with formaldehyde fumes. The trailer manufacturer, a Saudi company called Red Sea Housing Services Co., confirmed to the embassy it had used the toxic chemical in preparing the housing. Red Sea told the embassy to keep the windows open and use charcoal in the rooms to absorb the odor, but "the fumes are still prevalent," the cable said.

The embassy cable noted that five people had been identified at various times as the project manager, and that it was all but impossible for embassy officials to obtain information from them, with no one seeming to be in charge. "Two of the project managers have had extremely limited previous project management experience," the cable said. A $500,000 project to install a fire-suppression system appeared to be proceeding without proper supervision, it added.

The saga did not end there, as recounted by the cable in 23 lengthy paragraphs that mixed outrage with dense bureaucratic language.

First, KBR and First Kuwaiti quickly began finger-pointing. KBR electricians determined that the electrical wiring was too small for the load required, but First Kuwaiti electricians — after initially concurring — began to balk at the assessment, the cable said.

Then KBR raised new concerns about the grounding and electrical feeds into the facility.

The embassy cable noted that there had been at least four fires in dining facilities in Iraq blamed on similar problems. At a May 16 meeting, officials showed photos indicating fire hazards in the dining hall’s wiring that were so serious that the few guards who had moved into the base’s new residential housing were sent back to Camp Jackson.

"It was unknown as to whether similar wiring was present in the residential trailers," the cable said.

At the meeting, KBR representatives began to express unease about their responsibility and liability in operating and maintaining the base’s electrical system. On May 24, OBO declared that the wiring problem had been fixed, but KBR conducted an inspection a day later and said the problems remained. KBR found that the reworked wiring "is still substandard," the cable said. The embassy also said that it believes it has discovered counterfeit wiring, labeled as 10mm when it was actually 6mm.

Meanwhile, on May 18, OBO unexpectedly informed the embassy that it would soon stop maintaining the power stations and water-treatment facilities at the new guard base. The embassy protested that it had limited staff to operate the equipment, which needs to be in operation constantly to avoid costly repairs. First Kuwaiti provided only "minimal spare parts" for the power generators and "less than minimal spare parts" for the water-treatment plant, the cable said.

Finally, on May 25, a KBR hazardous-materials expert discovered that all 10 generators had developed leaks. The fuel tanks were installed without corrosion protection or leak detectors, and fuel had begun to saturate the soil around the tanks. The cable said that Teflon tape designed for water pipes had been used on the fuel tanks, and that such tape "will dissolve on contact with diesel fuel." KBR refused to operate the power generators unless its liability was waived.

The result, the cable concluded, is that the guards will continue to stay in "tents and deplorable living conditions." Officials now say that the guard base will not be ready until Aug. 1.

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Feces and urine rained from the ceilings

A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, U.S. investigators have found.

The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S. efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country’s security, was so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks. Floors heaved inches off the ground and cracked apart. Water dripped so profusely in one room that it was dubbed "the rain forest."

"This is the most essential civil security project in the country — and it’s a failure," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an independent office created by Congress. "The Baghdad police academy is a disaster."

Bowen’s office plans to release a 21-page report Thursday detailing the most alarming problems with the facility.

Even in a $21 billion reconstruction effort that has been marred by cases of corruption and fraud, failures in training and housing Iraq’s security forces are particularly significant because of their effect on what the U.S. military has called its primary mission here: to prepare Iraqi police and soldiers so that Americans can depart.

Federal investigators said the inspector general’s findings raise serious questions about whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has failed to exercise effective oversight over the Baghdad Police College or reconstruction programs across Iraq, despite charging taxpayers management fees of at least 4.5 percent of total project costs. The Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that it has initiated a wide-ranging investigation of the police academy project.

The report serves as the latest indictment of Parsons Corp., the U.S. construction giant that was awarded about $1 billion for a variety of reconstruction projects across Iraq. After chronicling previous Parsons failures to properly build health clinics, prisons and hospitals, Bowen said he now plans to conduct an audit of every Parsons project.

"The truth needs to be told about what we didn’t get for our dollar from Parsons," Bowen said.

A spokeswoman for Parsons said the company had not seen the inspector general’s report.

The Coalition Provisional Authority hired Parsons in 2004 to transform the Baghdad Police College, a ramshackle collection of 1930s buildings, into a modern facility whose training capacity would expand from 1,500 recruits to at least 4,000. The contract called for the firm to remake the campus by building, among other things, eight three-story student barracks, classroom buildings and a central laundry facility.

As top U.S. military commanders declared 2006 "the year of the police," in an acknowledgment of their critical role in allowing for any withdrawal of American troops, officials highlighted the Baghdad Police College as one of their success stories.

"This facility has definitely been a top priority," Lt. Col. Joel Holtrop of the Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division Project and Contracting Office said in a July news release. "It’s a very exciting time as the cadets move into the new structures."

Complaints about the new facilities, however, began pouring in two weeks after the recruits arrived at the end of May, a Corps of Engineers official said.

The most serious problem was substandard plumbing that caused waste from toilets on the second and third floors to cascade throughout the building. A light fixture in one room stopped working because it was filled with urine and fecal matter. The waste threatened the integrity of load-bearing slabs, federal investigators concluded.

"When we walked down the halls, the Iraqis came running up and said, ‘Please help us. Please do something about this,’ " Bowen recalled.

Phillip A. Galeoto, director of the Baghdad Police College, wrote an Aug. 16 memo that catalogued at least 20 problems: shower and bathroom fixtures that leaked from the first day of occupancy, concrete and tile floors that heaved more than two inches off the ground, water rushing down hallways and stairwells because of improper slopes or drains in bathrooms, classroom buildings with foundation problems that caused structures to sink.

Galeoto noted that one entire building and five floors in others had to be shuttered for repairs, limiting the capacity of the college by up to 800 recruits. His memo, too, pointed out that the urine and feces flowed throughout the building and, sometimes, onto occupants of the barracks.

"This is not a complete list," he wrote, but rather a snapshot of "issues we are confronted with on a daily basis (as recent as the last hour) by the incomplete and/or poor work left behind by these builders."

The Parsons contract, which eventually totaled at least $75 million, was terminated May 31 "due to cost overruns, schedule slippage, and sub-standard quality," according to a Sept. 4 internal military memo. But rather than fire the Pasadena, Calif.-based company for cause, the contract was halted for "the government’s convenience."

Col. Michael Herman — deputy commander of the Gulf Region Division of the Corps of Engineers, which was supposed to oversee the project — said the Iraqi subcontractors hired by Parsons were being forced to fix the building problems as part of their warranty work, at no cost to taxpayers. He said four of the eight barracks have been repaired.

The U.S. military initially agreed to take a Washington Post reporter on a tour of the facility Wednesday to examine the construction issues, but the trip was postponed Tuesday night. Federal investigators who visited the academy last week, though, expressed concerns about the structural integrity of the buildings and worries that fecal residue could cause a typhoid outbreak or other health crisis.

"They may have to demolish everything they built," said Robert DeShurley, a senior engineer with the inspector general’s office. "The buildings are falling down as they sit."

Herman said that he doubted that was the case but that he plans to hire an architecture and engineering firm to examine the facility. He also plans to investigate concerns raised by the inspector general’s office that the Army Corps of Engineers did not properly respond to construction problems highlighted in quality-control reports.

Inside the inspector general’s office in Baghdad on a recent blistering afternoon, several federal investigators expressed amazement that such construction blunders could be concentrated in one project. Even in Iraq, they said, failure on this magnitude is unusual. When asked how the problems at the police college compared with other projects they had inspected, the answers came swiftly.

"This is significant," said Jon E. Novak, a senior adviser in the office.

"It’s catastrophic," DeShurley added.

Bowen said: "It’s the worst."

Russia wins 2014 Winter Olympics

Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi was awarded the 2014 Olympics on Wednesday, rewarding President Vladimir Putin and taking the Winter Games to his country for the first time.

Sochi defeated the South Korean city of Pyeongchang in the final round of a vote by the International Olympic Committee.

The Austrian resort of Salzburg was eliminated in the first round of the secret ballot, setting up the decisive head-to-head contest between Sochi and Pyeongchang. The vote totals were not immediately released.

The result was a triumph for Putin, who put his international prestige on the line by coming to Guatemala to lobby IOC members and lead Sochi’s final formal presentation to the assembly. Putin had left by the time the result was announced.

Ninety-seven IOC members were eligible to vote in the first round. Members from bidding countries are ineligible to vote as long as their cities remain in contention. With Salzburg out, 100 delegates were eligible in the second round.

Russia, an Olympic power which has won 293 Winter Games medals, has never hosted the Winter Games. That was a strong point in Sochi’s favor with the IOC, which likes to spread the Olympics to new host countries. Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Games, which were hit by the U.S.-led boycott following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The Sochi bid won out over the appeals of its rivals — Salzburg, presenting itself as a safe, no-risk winter sports mecca at the heart of Europe with world-class venues already in place; and Pyeongchang, offering the potential for peace and reconciliation on the divided Korean peninsula and promoting winter sports in Asia.

Putin’s government has pledged US$12 billion (€8.8 billion) to develop Sochi into a world-class winter sports complex linking the palm-lined Black Sea coast — the so-called "Russian Riviera" — to the soaring Caucasus mountains nearby.

Putin emphasized his commitment by making a rare formal presentation in English to the IOC. He praised Sochi’s natural setting, saying, "On the seashore you can enjoy a fine spring day, but up in the mountains, it’s winter … a real snow is guaranteed."

Although nearly all the venues will have to be newly built, Putin assured, "We guarantee the Olympic cluster in Sochi will be completed on time."

"No traffic jams, I promise," he said with a smile.

Noting that athletes would have a short walk to their venues, Putin said, "Five minutes’ walking distance, not bad."

It was the second straight first-round defeat for Salzburg, which also mounted a failed bid for the 2010 Winter Games, which went to Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Austrians were squeezed out by the political and economic might of the Russian and Korean bids.

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Russians threaten to counter US shield

Russia could site cruise missiles in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania, if the US goes ahead with plans for a missile defence shield in central Europe, Russia’s first deputy prime minister warned on Wednesday.

The televised comments by Sergei Ivanov – a possible successor to President Vladimir Putin – came two days after Mr Putin proposed using a new radar station being built in southern Russia in place of a planned US radar in the Czech Republic. The proposal was made during informal talks with US president George W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine.

“If our proposal is accepted, then the need will disappear for us to place … new weapons, including missiles, in the European part of the country, including Kaliningrad, to counter those threats that … will appear if the decision is taken to place the missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic,” Mr Ivanov said.

His comments, during a visit to Uzbekistan, appeared calculated to reinforce Mr Putin’s repeated warnings of a new arms race in Europe if the central European missile shield plan is implemented.

They continued Russia’s carrot-and-stick approach to Washington’s plans. Mr Putin warned last month that Moscow would once again target Europe with nuclear missiles if the US shield went ahead. He later proposed at the G8 summit that a former Soviet early warning radar in Azerbaijan be used as a substitute for the planned Czech radar.

The Pentagon welcomed the proposal – it was already considering trying to place a forward radar in the Caucasus – but made clear it could not replace the powerful tracking radar it wants to place in the Czech Republic.

Russian analysts and media had referred to missiles possibly being deployed in Kaliningrad after Mr Ivanov watched a test of a high-precision cruise missile for its existing Iskander missile system in May – on the same day Moscow tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile. But Mr Ivanov’s words were the first time the threat had been made explicitly by a senior official.

Kaliningrad has remained heavily militarised since the Soviet era. It already houses Russian Tochka missiles, though these are shorter range than the Iskander.

“[Cruise missiles] in Kaliningrad would be a direct military threat to Poland and Germany,” said Ivan Safranchuk, an analyst at the World Security Institute.

Mr Ivanov suggested the latest Russian proposals on co-operation could defuse the missile defence issue. But it was unclear whether Mr Putin’s proposal on a southern Russian radar station referred to the powerful tracking radar, which the US says is crucial because of its precision tracking which helps interceptors lock on to incoming missiles, or just another early warning radar.

Formerly the German-speaking region of East Prussia, Kaliningrad became part of the Soviet Union after 1945. In the cold war it was a military base and closed to outsiders. After the break-up of the USSR in 1991, Kaliningrad became an enclave cut off from Russia.

Portugal invites Mugabe

Jose Socrates, Portugal’s prime minister, on Monday launched his country’s presidency of the European Union and immediately flew to Africa, in a clear sign that he wants to boost political and economic ties between the two continents.

High on his agenda will be development, cooperation in tackling illegal migration and European economic interests in Africa, which are increasingly facing tough competition from China.

Mr Socrates intends to hold the first EU-Africa summit in seven years in Lisbon in December, but on Monday came under fire for refusing to exclude Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe president from the guest list.

Glenys Kinnock, a British Labour member of the European parliament, said the meeting could offer Mr Mugabe a chance to “gloat and strut” while his people suffered at home”.

But Mr Socrates, speaking at the official launch of Portugal’s six-month presidency of the EU, said that while Europe would continue to take a tough bilateral line with Mr Mugabe’s regime, it had to develop better ties with the African Union as a whole.

“Appropriate diplomatic formulae will be found,” he said, after talks with the European Commission in the northern city of Porto. He said it was an “error for Europe” not to hold a formal dialogue with Africa.

On Monday Mr Socrates flew to Accra, the capital of Ghana, for talks with African Union leaders. He was accompanied by José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, who made his name as a Portuguese minister negotiating a peace agreement in the Angolan civil war.

Growing Chinese involvement in Africa, combined with the increasing competition for its natural resources, has spurred the EU to reconsider its approach.

Last week it unveiled a new “partnership of equals” with the continent, a recognition that it can shop around for aid and trading partners.

“Europe has a different perspective on Africa than a decade ago,” the paper says, an implicit recognition that its lecturing on human rights and corruption will have to be toned down.

“There is a much greater choice for African countries and organisations, but also for the private sector and civil society, to engage with international partners.”

In spite of the focus on Africa, Mr Socrates could have problems closer to home, particularly in dealing with Nicolas Sarkozy, French president.

Mr Socrates urged Mr Sarkozy to honour French commitments to run a balanced budget by 2010, part of a general eurozone drive to restore order to public finances.

“It is very important for the single currency and the system for people to stick to their budgetary commitments,” he said.

Mr Socrates will also try to head off Mr Sarkozy’s initiative to have a debate on the future borders of Europe, part of a French campaign to permanently exclude Turkey from the EU.

Mr Barroso meanwhile repeated calls for Poland not to reopen the painful compromise on a new EU reform treaty, the legal details of which are supposed to be wrapped in time for a summit in Lisbon in October.

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Global Unease

A worldwide survey finds global public opinion expressing increasing negative views of the United States and a lack of confidence in President Bush. Global support for the "war on terror" is lower than ever.

But the other dominant nations of the world, Russia, China and the European countries fared no better, and no nation or the United Nations has filled the void in world leadership. In China’s case, its rising economic and military power is viewed with deepening suspicion by some nations.

This 2007 survey is the sixth world public opinion survey of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which has been conducted since 2002. This most recent survey is by far the largest global survey Pew has conducted, consisting of 45,239 interviews, over a 2-month period in 46 countries and the Palestinian territories. It is likely the largest public opinion poll ever undertaken, according to Donald Kimelman, a managing director at the Pew Charitable Trusts. Without modern technology, it would have been impossible before to simultaneously conduct so many interviews across the globe.

The report for this survey, Global Unease with Major World Powers ( Global Unease, for short), was released June 27 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and former Senator John C. Danforth made comments. Albright and Danforth are co-chairs of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which is sponsoring this series of worldwide public opinion surveys.

"Over the last five years, America’s image has plummeted throughout much of the world, including sharp drops in favorability among traditional allies in Western Europe, as well as substantial declines in America, the Middle East, and elsewhere," says Global Unease.

An extreme case is Argentina. In 2000, half the population viewed the U.S. favorably. In 2007, the percent favorable declined to only 16%. In 2000, the U.S. had an 89% favorable rate in Venezuela; in 2007, it is 56%. Mexico has the same percentage favorable in the 2007 survey as Venezuela.

Another extreme case is Turkey, a NATO ally. The lowest country rating in the survey was Turkey’s 9% U.S. favorability rating. Other Middle East nations aren’t a whole lot better: "More than three-in-four Palestinians, Turks, Egyptians, and Jordanians express unfavorable opinions of the U.S.," says Global Unease.

In some Middle East countries, the nation’s overall score is not very meaningful. For example, in Lebanon 47% are favorable towards the U.S., but among the Christian minority it is 82%, and with the Shia majority, it is 7% favorable. 92% of the Lebanon’s Shia population has an unfavorable view of the U.S.

Israel, the U.S.’ closest ally in the region, is holding at a 78% favorable view of the U.S.

In Europe, the percentage favorable towards the U.S. has dropped precipitously since 1999/2000. During this period Great Britain went from 83 to 51% favorable view of the U.S. Today, France (39%), Germany (30%), Spain (34%) and Sweden (46%) have less than a majority with a favorable view of the U.S. Only Italy in the sample had a majority (53%).

However, attitudes of European nations towards Americans tend to be much higher than for America. For example, Germans and Swedes give 63% and 73%, respectively, favorable ratings of the American people.

In Asia, the U.S. image depends mostly on whether the country is largely Muslim or not Muslim. The U.S. is widely unpopular in Pakistan (15%), Malaysia (27%), and Indonesia (29%)—all three are predominately Muslim. Global Unease attributes the recent decline in U.S. favorability to the Iraq war and the war on terror, which Muslims tend to strongly oppose.

One Asian country that is an exception to the rule is China. China is not a Muslim country but exhibits favorability ratings towards the U.S. almost as low (34%) as the Muslim countries. Both Pakistan and China shifted a lot towards an unfavorable view of the U.S. this last year.

The United States remains popular in India (59%), Japan (61%), South Korea (58%), and Bangladesh (53%).

The belief that the U.S. gives little or no consideration to countries like theirs when making foreign policy decisions is especially prevalent in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Israel in the Middle East and India in Asia were both exceptions to the rule with only 24% saying that the U.S. does not take into account the interests of other countries. Strong majorities in 30 of the 46 countries criticized U.S. unilateralism. The most extreme cases were France and Sweden where about nine out of ten express this view (France: 89%, Sweden: 90%).

Even Kuwait, which was liberated by American forces in 1991, has shifted in this direction. In 2003, 35% said that the U.S. pays little or no attention to the interests of countries like theirs, but now 64% say this.

International support for America’s war terror has fallen considerably since the 9/11 attacks. "The fallout has been especially steep in Europe, with decreases of at least 25 percentage points in Ukraine, France, Great Britain, Poland, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic." In the Western Hemisphere, sharp drops were recorded in Venezuela (45%) and Canada (37%).

Majorities in 43 of the 47 countries say the U.S. should remove its troops as soon as possible from Iraq. Even majorities in Turkey (86%), Jordan (83%) and 56%)—countries that border on Iraq and who might be concerned that a U.S. departure would hurt regional stability—favor a quick U.S. withdrawal.

While it is not surprising to see opposition to the Iraq war, the survey also found a large amount of skepticism about military operations in Afghanistan, where "we have a good reason to be there," said Secretary Albright. The majority of 32 of 47 countries want the U.S. and NATO forces out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. Even in the U.S. and Britain, 42% thinks we should disengage. In America, half (50%) believe they should stay.

The report mentions "a global backlash against the spread of American ideas and customs." In most countries surveyed, the most popular view is one of dislike for American ideas about democracy with Turkey (81%), France (76%) and Pakistan (72) leading the pack. This sentiment has increased in most regions since 2002. However, majorities in most African nations, Israel, South Korea and Japan still retain positive views of the U.S. approach to democracy.

More than any other country, the U.S. is named as the country that is "hurting the world’s environment the most." China is mentioned next most often as a contributor to global environmental problems.

Secretary Albright spoke of how difficult it is to be the U.S. representative at the UN when the U.S. image is so low.

The survey found that China’s growing power, both economic and military, are fueling anxiety.

Unfavorable views of China dominate in Western Europe, particularly in Spain (43%), Germany (54%), France (51), Italy (61%). China’s growing economic power is perceived as an economic threat in Western Europe, where close to two-thirds of Italians and the French believe this expansion is bad for the country. Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, said the developed countries especially fear competition from China.

Opinion of China is much more negative in Japan (Unfavorable: 67%, Favorable: 29%). This represents quite a turn-around; the 2002 Global Attitudes survey found 42% unfavorable and 55% favorable. India too has become somewhat more negative on China, where the favorable percentage dropped from 56% in 2005 to 46% in 2007. In general, however, China’s image is positive in Asia, particularly in Malaysia (83%), Pakistan (79%), Bangladesh (74%) and Indonesia (65%).

China’s economic power appears to foment much anxiety in Mexico, Czech Republic, South Korea, and India. These countries say by large majorities that China’s growing economy is a bad thing: Mexico (55%), Czech Republic (56%), South Korea (60%) and India (48%). At the other extreme, the African nations surveyed are much more welcoming to China’s economic power, e.g., 80% in Nigeria say China’s growing economy is a good thing.

While most of the world, with strong reservations, views China’s economic growth positively, its military expansion has been a greater cause for concern. Approximately, two out of three interviewed in the United States (68%) and Canada (66%) say China’s growing military power is a bad thing for their countries. Other countries are even more negative: South Korea (89%), France (84%), Japan (80%), Germany (77%) and Russia (70%). A majority in India (59%) express the same concern.

Concern by China’s neighbors, India, Japan, and South Korea for China’s military expansion is natural, given the bitter history of these nations with Communist China. Other neighboring nations of China are not alarmed. Majorities in Pakistan (57%), Malaysia (57%) and Bangladesh (51%) regard China’s stronger military as good for their country.

Александр Фильчаков

Terror suspects all linked to NHS

Eight people arrested in connection with failed car bombings in Glasgow and London all have links with the National Health Service, the BBC has learned.

Seven are believed to be doctors or medical students, while one formerly worked as a laboratory technician.

A suspect in hospital after the Glasgow attack has been named as Khalid Ahmed, who is believed to be a doctor.

A man arrested in Liverpool on Sunday has been named as Sabeel Ahmed, 26, who trained as a doctor.

Two men were also arrested in Blackburn on an industrial estate, initially under terror laws, but are now being held under the Drugs Act after police said they were no longer being treated as terror suspects.

Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4 has reopened after a suspect bag sparked a security alert.

BAA said the departure lounge was partially evacuated and departing passengers are being rescreened, leaving thousands of people facing delays.

Tube trains on the Piccadilly Line were not stopping at Heathrow Terminal 4, but the station serving terminals one, two and three remained open.

Seven doctors or medical students have been arrested in England, Scotland and Australia in connection with the attacks. All worked in NHS hospitals.

Australian media have identified a man arrested at Brisbane Airport as Dr Mohammed Haneef, 27, who has worked at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire. He was detained while trying to board a plane to India.

On Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Police said a counter-terrorism officer was travelling to Australia to liaise with authorities.

Dr Haneef worked at the Gold Coast Hospital in Southport, eastern Queensland, and was previously based in Liverpool.

A second doctor who was being questioned in Australia over the failed attacks has been released without charge.

Marwah Dana Asha, 27, who was arrested on the M6, is thought to have worked as a lab technician at an NHS hospital in Shrewsbury.

She was arrested with her husband, Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, who worked at North Staffordshire NHS Trust’s University Hospital.

Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, arrested at Glasgow Airport on Saturday, and two men, aged 28 and 25, arrested at accommodation at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley on Monday have been handed over to the Metropolitan Police. Dr Abdullah was employed as a locum at the hospital.

Khalid Ahmed, detained at Glasgow Airport along with Dr Abdullah, suffered severe burns and remains in a critical condition under armed police guard at the Royal Alexandra.

The man arrested in the Lime Street area of Liverpool trained as a doctor at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Bangalore, India, the same place as Dr Haneef.

Six of the eight people arrested are now being held at London’s Paddington Green police station.

Sian Thomas, deputy director of NHS Employers, said she wanted to reassure the public there were "thorough and robust checks" in place before doctors were employed by NHS trusts.

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