The two leaders have also agreed to resume talks on reunifying the island. "This is the first step. We hope many more will follow" said Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou. We are living a historic day today," said an aide to Mr Talat, Osdil Nami, at the Ledra Street reopening on Thursday. "We are witnessing one of the obstacles to a solution come down."

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed the reopening, saying it showed that the two sides were "ready to put aside the difficulties of the past". Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been divided since 1974, when Turkey deployed troops after a coup by Greek Cypriots who wanted union with Greece. Ledra Street had been at the centre of the island's leading shopping district before it was blocked in the middle, with military posts either side of the dividing line.

"We still have a long way to go," said the mayor of Nicosia, Eleni Mavrou. "This is the first step. We hope many more will follow."

Here the BBC's Asia bureau chief Paul Danahar, who is based in Beijing, responds to this criticism and looks at the challenges of reporting in China.

It is a pleasant surprise to be criticised by your readers when you work as a journalist in China. Most of you viewing this page are unknowingly taking for granted a luxury that those of us living behind the "Great Firewall" have to do without. WE ARE IN A BIT OF A VACUUM, CUT OFF FROM NORMAL ACCESS TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. My TV blacks out when someone says the magic words Tibet or Tiananmen protests; my daily paper is an unsophisticated propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party and half the websites I want to read are blocked including, until recently, this one. But when suddenly the English language edition of the BBC News website (the Chinese one is still blocked by the government) became accessible in China, some readers here, but by no means all, took exception to what they saw.

People like Xie Huai from Zhengzhou e-mailed the site saying: "I often find that stories about China diverge from the truth. Why?" THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION LIES IN THE WORD "TRUTH". Only now are many Chinese getting the chance to debate the "truth" of foreign media publications (and only those not in Chinese) because only now are they getting a point of view on some IMPORTANT TOPICS AT ODDS WITH THE ONE PROVIDED BY THE STATE-CONTROLLED MEDIA. There is, of course, enormous debate on the internet in China about all sorts of controversial issues ranging from politics to sex. But writing about things like Tibet, Falun Gong and the Tiananmen Square protests can land you in jail. The story that raised concerns for some of our new Chinese readers was the rioting last month in Tibet.

The foreign media was accused of misreporting the scale and nature of the trouble there. In fact, during the BBC's total coverage of the disturbances, we managed to upset both sides of the debate. We were the first foreign broadcasters to obtain pictures, filmed by a Chinese camera crew showing the ethnic violence against Han Chinese by Tibetans in Lhasa; events which were verified by the only (non-BBC) Western journalist in Lhasa at the time.

The Dalai Lama then said at a press conference that because of the pictures he had seen on the BBC, he was calling for an end to the violence. However he wondered aloud if we showed them because we were biased towards the Chinese.

The next day we were the first international broadcaster to show images filmed by a Canadian crew showing the Chinese flag being torn apart and replaced with a free Tibet flag by protestors in nearby Gansu province. THAT REPORT SENT THE CHAP WHO PRESSES THE BLACK-OUT BUTTON FOR MY TV INTO OVERDRIVE ALL DAY. People who criticise the media for their coverage in Tibet should acknowledge that we were and still are banned from reporting there. When we tried to report on disturbances outside Tibet that did not require a special permit, we were turned back at armed checkpoints.

And only a select group, not including the BBC, were eventually invited on a strictly controlled visit to Lhasa after the rioting had ended. "It is ironic that China, a country that does not allow the operation of a free press, should accuse the Western media of bias in its coverage of the dramatic events in Tibet, including the use of double standards" - not the words of a Western journalist but of Frank Ching writing this week in the South China Morning Post.

We welcome comments from our readers and particularly those new ones in China, because they help inform what we do. Journalists do make mistakes and when we do we have a responsibility to admit them. "I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies."

Hu Jia, 34, was convicted of "INCITING SUBVERSION OF STATE POWER AND THE SOCIALIST SYSTEM", his lawyer said. He has long campaigned for the environment, religious freedom and for the rights of people with HIV and Aids. His sentence comes a day after a rights group accused China of a campaign to silence dissent ahead of the Olympics. The US was "dismayed" by the verdict, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Beijing said, while the European Union called for Mr Hu's immediate release. "We said very clearly before the trial that he should not have been detained in the first place and that he should be released and this remains our position," Beijing spokesman William Fingleton told the French news agency AFP.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said the court had been lenient with Mr Hu because he had admitted his crimes. "HU SPREAD MALICIOUS RUMOURS, LIBEL AND INSTIGATION IN AN ATTEMPT TO SUBVERT THE STATE'S POLITICAL AND SOCIALIST SYSTEMS," Xinhua said, quoting the court ruling. Mr Hu's conviction comes only two weeks after another activist, Yang Chunlin, was jailed on similar charges. On Wednesday, UK-based rights group Amnesty International accused Beijing of carrying out a "wave of repression" ahead of the Olympic Games.

Last month, CHINESE PREMIER WEN JIABAO was asked about Hu Jia's case. He said it should be handled according to the law. "AS FOR CRITICS' VIEW THAT CHINA IS TRYING TO INCREASE ITS EFFORTS TO ARREST DISSIDENTS AHEAD THE OLYMPIC GAMES, I THINK ALL THESE ACCUSATIONS ARE UNFOUNDED," HE SAID.

In an hour-and-a-half-long audio response to questions submitted to the movement on extremist Web sites, Zawahri said: "We promise our Muslim brothers that we will do the best we can to harm Jews in Israel and the world over, with Allah's help and according to his command." Zawahri reassured many of the questioners, who seemed worried about the direction of the organization, that the global jihad was on track and would soon expand elsewhere.

"I EXPECT THE JIHADI INFLUENCE TO SPREAD AFTER THE AMERICANS' EXIT FROM IRAQ, AND TO MOVE TOWARDS JERUSALEM," he said to those asking when attacks on Israel would take place. Zawahri also slammed the UN for "assisting the establishment of Israel," calling the organization an "enemy of Islam."

In a speech at Westminster Cathedral, Mr Blair will say FAILURE TO ENGAGE WITH RELIGIOUS GROUPS WILL DRIVE BELIEVERS TO APATHY OR FUNDAMENTALISM. Mr Blair, who recently converted to Catholicism, will outline the role of his Faith Foundation for young people. Since stepping down as prime minister last summer, Mr Blair has become a ROMAN CATHOLIC and is now a MIDDLE EAST PEACE ENVOY.

In his speech this evening, he will warn that while societies across the world are adapting to meet the challenges of globalisation, religion is coping less well. It faces an internal division between FUNDAMENTALISM and those who believe religion is a spent force.

The archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said "It is important that the Catholic church engages with society in a positive and creative way and provides a public space for debate about religion. The role of faith in our society cannot be ignored and I hope that the debate these lectures stimulate will highlight the crucial role faith can play in contributing to the common good."

But the Stop the War Coalition say they want to hold Mr Blair to account over his role in the Iraq war with their noisy protest. Pax Christi says its silent vigil will "call to mind and to public attention, Tony Blair's involvement in the Iraq War and ongoing occupation". It also opposes his involvement in the decision to replace Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system "and other aspects of his premiership that have created global polarity".

The unmanned vessel will deliver just under five tonnes of food, water, air, fuel and equipment to the orbiting platform's three astronauts. The Automated Transfer Vehicle will use its own computerised systems to make the attachment. Ground controllers and the station's astronauts will not get involved unless there is a problem.

One of its main tasks will be to raise the roughly 340km-altitude of the station, which has a tendency to fall back to Earth over time as it drags through the top of the atmosphere. Every few weeks the freighter will fire its thrusters to accelerate the platform complex, taking it higher into the sky. As astronauts deplete the ship's supplies, they will fill the empty storage racks with rubbish. In a few months' time, probably in August, Jules Verne will detach from the ISS and take itself and the waste into a controlled burn-up over the Pacific Ocean.

The automated systems that allow it to track down an object (the ISS) moving at 27,000km/h, and attach itself with an accuracy of 2cm, are beyond what other space-faring nations have at the moment - including the Russians and the US. At Esa HQ in Paris, however, space officials have even grander plans.

But Jules Verne's significance goes well beyond mere cargo duties. THEY BELIEVE JULES VERNE'S TECHNOLOGIES COULD EVENTUALLY BE INCORPORATED INTO AN INDEPENDENT EUROPEAN MANNED SPACESHIP - perhaps one that looked similar to the Orion concept now being built by the Americans to replace the shuttle. Europe's space ministers will be asked to consider such ideas at their meeting in November.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) took 99 seats, while President Robert Mugabe's party polled 97. With presidential election results yet to be declared, the MDC said its leader had won, but Zanu-PF denied this. Meanwhile Mr Mugabe's ambassador to the UN told the BBC the president had no intention of leaving the country.

While the parliamentary victory is significant, Mr Mugabe has changed Zimbabwe's constitution several times in the past 28 years to leave most power in the president's hands, says the BBC's Grant Ferrett in neighbouring South Africa. There are real fears of unrest if the presidential contest enters a second round, our correspondent adds.

Zanu-PF has rejected suggestions that talks have been taking place with the MDC on a possible handover of power. MDC sources had earlier told the BBC that the outline of an agreement had nearly been reached for Mr Mugabe to leave office. Mr Mugabe, 84, has not been seen in public since the election but Mr Matonga has denied rumours the president had left the country.

UPDATE - JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has admitted to his family and advisers that he has lost the most important election of his 28-year rule, South African financial daily Business Day reported on Thursday. "Mugabe has conceded to his closest advisers, the army, police and intelligence chiefs. He has also told his family and personal advisers that he has lost the election," Business Day quoted an unidentified source as saying.

It was not until I saw the black sedan tailing me that I knew, for certain, I was on the right track. I had come to China to film a report about the crisis in its development model: the overheating economy, the water crisis, the growing spate of environmental protests. But, because this year is the 50th anniversary of the Great Leap Forward, I had decided to look at today's success story through the prism of the failure of 50 years ago.

In 1958, Chairman Mao decided that Chinese industry and agriculture should be modernised both at once. In the orthodox Marxist playbook, this is near impossible to do, and so it proved. Mao told people to forge steel in backyard furnaces: forests were stripped, whole villages saw their tools melted down. Mao ordered the eradication of sparrows as pests: a plague of locusts followed. Mao ordered the theories of Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko to guide Chinese agriculture: crops failed. It was not a total disaster: steel production leapt by 45%. It was only years later that Chinese demographers noticed 30 MILLION PEOPLE MISSING from the population. THE GREAT EXPERIMENT HAD CAUSED ONE OF THE 20TH CENTURY'S MOST DEVASTATING FAMINES.

China's real leap forward is happening right now, as people's living standards rise, as the country bursts out into the global marketplace. But it is still a hybrid of the market and the plan: for all the rhetoric of privatisation and marketisation, THESE PROCESSES ARE THEMSELVES A FORM OF GIANT STATE INTERVENTION.

BUT THE CRACKS ARE BEGINNING TO SHOW. The economy is overheating: 8.7% annualised inflation; a 23% rise in food prices. In a wholesale market in Shanghai, I met stallholders furious at being squeezed between rising farm prices and the low disposable incomes of their clients. In the glitzy cocktail bars of that city, I met others able to ride the wave of the overhead. SOME 150 MILLION PEOPLE ARE NOW GAMBLING THEIR SAVINGS ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE. The typical investor is young, female and wears Burberry. They are confident their government will not allow the current stock market bubble - 400% up in four years - to turn into a crash.

But when you get out of the eastern seaboard and see the industrial heartland of China, it is clear the economy may not be the biggest problem. THERE IS A WATER CRISIS: major rivers like the Yangtze are being polluted beyond repair. MEANWHILE, THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING TO DIVERT WHOLE RIVER SYSTEMS TO FEED AND WATER BEIJING DURING THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

For me, the question is this: CAN CHINA'S GOVERNANCE SYSTEM COPE WITH THE INCREASINGLY COMPLEX AND CRITICAL DECISIONS THAT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS POSING? In other words, is its development model sustainable - or will too rapid and one-sided progress hit the buffers, economic, environmental and social? When I spoke to Dr Fang Xing Hai, one of a new breed of communist leaders educated in the West, he was confident it can. HE REVEALED, SOMEWHAT TO MY SURPRISE, THAT THERE ARE "FACTIONS" WITHIN THE COMMUNIST PARTY LEADERSHIP AND THAT THE KEY DEBATE BETWEEN THEM IS AN ECHO OF THE DEBATE IN 1958: MORE STATE INTERVENTION OR MORE MARKET FORCES? The Chinese system, he assured me, is mature and resilient, capable of reading inputs and taking timely decisions. It could never get caught up in the hubris that propelled Mao along the path of the original Great Leap.

Those accused of opposing the Great Leap Forward were labelled rightists and purged: half a million fell victim to the anti-rightists movement in 1958. Professor Wan Yao Qiu was teaching biology at Beijing University. Denounced as a rightist, mainly he says because his boss was an outspoken critic of the party, he was expelled, sacked and exiled to the countryside where he was forced to work in a factory for 21 years. In those 21 years, he says he was treated like "an untouchable in the Indian caste system: everybody had the right to kick us, like rats crossing the street".

Released in 1979, he and his generation have not been fully cleared. I WAS DUE TO MEET FOUR OF THEM - BUT THREE WERE PLACED UNDER HOUSE ARREST FOR THE DURATION OF THE NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS. Prof Wan told me that the real lesson of the Great Leap Forward was the need for democracy, for the people to be able to supervise the government. I had found few others prepared to speak so openly about the cracks within China's governance system.

Here is the paradox: the government would repudiate everything Mao advocated in 1958. You would imagine that Prof Wan and his colleagues would be seen as visionaries: market socialists before their time. BUT NO: SO TIGHT DOES THE COMMUNIST PARTY GUARD ITS HOLD ON POWER THAT TO ADMIT THE ANTI-RIGHTIST CAMPAIGN WAS UNJUST MIGHT QUESTION ITS LEGITIMACY. Few in China will want to commemorate the events of 1958 - but to move on from the past you have to try to understand it.

The demonstration of the Paschal sacrifice is part of a study day scheduled to take place on Sunday, the First of Nissan (April 6), at the Kotel Yeshiva in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. THE STUDY DAY IS A JOINT PROJECT OF THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE, THE SANHEDRIN AND THE KING DAVID MUSEUM. It was originally planned to take place one week later, but the organizers decided to dedicate it to the memory of the eight yeshiva boys murdered in Jerusalem recently, and to hold it on the 30th day after their death.

The study day is to include a public sacrifice which is being termed A "GENERAL REHEARSAL" FOR THE ACTUAL PESACH SACRIFICE ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT, a ritual prescribed by the Torah but currently forbidden by the Israel government and courts.

Lick told Ynet Monday that ACCORDING TO JEWISH LAW, ABSTAINING FROM PERFORMING THE SACRIFICE IS AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS OFFENCE, comparable in its severity to avoiding a brit (circumcision ceremony) for one's newborn boy. He explained that although Jewish law forbids Jews in an impure state (which all Jews are in as long as the Temple rites are not renewed) from entering the Temple area, an exception is made for public sacrifices like the Pesach sacrifice.

The Temple movement recently sent a formal request to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Minister of Public Security Avi Dichter, to allow them to conduct the sacrifice on the Temple Mount. "MAKING THE PASCHAL SACRIFICE IS PART OF THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM WHICH IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT AND A CORNERSTONE OF DEMOCRACY," THEY WROTE.

AN ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST SAID THE SACRIFICE HAS NO PLACE IN AN "ENLIGHTENED COUNTRY" LIKE ISRAEL.

The Temple movement has conducted several Paschal sacrifices in recent years. The ceremonies took place in front of the Temple Mount, on a hill which is called the Hill of Hananyah, and on the Mount of Olives. These sacrifices, however, bore a symbolic nature and were seen as memorials to the real Pesach sacrifice, because Biblical law stipulates that the Pesach sacrifice can only be performed on the Temple Mount.

In 2007, the Temple Mount Faithful and the Sanhedrin rabbis purchased a herd of sheep and petitioned the Supreme Court to allow a Pesach sacrifice to be offered on the Temple Mount. However, the government and legal advisors to the police asked the Supreme Court to reject the plea. The act of bringing a sacrifice could threaten the general public's safety, they said, CITING THE MUSLIM PUBLIC'S "SPECIAL FEELINGS" FOR THE TEMPLE MOUNT AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A VIOLENT OUTBREAK.

Besides the planned Pesach sacrifice demonstration, next week's study day will include discussions regarding the possibility of using an electrical oven or a ceramic skewer for roasting the Pesach sacrifice.

The response from The Temple Institute can be read here

EUROZONE UNDER STRAIN AS MANUFACTURING SECTOR DIVERGENCE REACHES EIGHT YEAR HIGH - The WSJ reports that there is a growing divergence between healthy northern Eurozone economies and their southern counterparts. March figures from the Purchasing Managers Index show the manufacturing sector expanded in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, but contracted in Italy, Spain and Ireland and showed weakness in France. The results mark the most pronounced divergence among the 15 countries sharing the euro than at any time since the third quarter of 2000.

ONLY 14 PERCENT OF MEPS HAVE BUSINESS EXPERIENCE - According to FT research carried out by the Industry and Parliament Trust, MEPs have much lower levels of business experience than members of the House of Commons. The report finds that only 14 per cent of MEPs have any business experience at all, only 9 percent have at least five years experience and just 5 percent have at least ten years experience. This compares to 28 percent, 21 percent and 13 percent respectively for Westminster MPs.

NEW COMMISSIONER PLEDGES TO RE-TABLE CONTROVERSIAL HEALTH DIRECTIVE IN JUNE - Euobserver reports that new Cypriot Commissioner Androula Vassiliou - who still needs the approval of the European Parliament - has pledged to move forward with the proposed EU Health Directive, which would govern patients' rights to receive medical treatment in another EU member state and the rules on who is responsible for covering the costs. "I am already working on the proposal, and I am determined to submit it for adoption by the Commission in June," Vassiliou said, adding that it will be presented along with the Commission's pending social package, "promoting access, opportunities and solidarity for all EU citizens." The original proposal sparked plenty of controversy. "It would create two classes of citizens; those who can access the health services and those who can't and that is unacceptable," UK Labour MEP Linda McAvan is quoted as saying.

POLISH DEPUTIES APPROVE EU TREATY - The BBC reports that the Polish parliament has voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty after weeks of argument. The opposition Law and Justice Party had threatened to vote against the treaty, fearing it could place limits on Polish sovereignty. President Lech Kaczynski also objected, putting forward an alternative bill before a compromise was reached.

MCCREEVY CALLS FOR "EARLY WARNING SYSTEM" IN EU'S BANKING SECTOR - According to the FT, Commissioner Charlie McCreevy yesterday told MEPs that "an early warning system" for the banking sector in the EU is urgently needed. He proposed changes to the so-called Basel II rules on capital requirements. There is also a proposal for a "supervisory college", bringing together supervisors from different countries, to monitor the largest financial institutions within the EU.

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has launched a formal investigation into the British government's bail-out plan for Newcastle-based Northern Rock, according to the BBC.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES MOVE TO HOARD FOOD SUPPLIES - The front page of the FT reports that an increasing number of countries are seeking to lift tariffs and restrict exports - such as India and Vietnam with rice, and Ukraine with wheat - in response to the growing food shortage. Economists have warned that such moves could force up food prices - already high from the growing demand in emerging markets and increased production of bio fuels.

However, Le Monde notes, "If, during the French EU Presidency which begins on 1 July, Washington does not support a real military planning and operations centre in Brussels, that will mean that Paris has no interest in retaking its full place within NATO as Sarkozy wants."

The Times notes that there are signs that earlier reports of 1,000 extra French troops in Afghanistan could already be unravelling, with Prime Minister François Fillon yesterday pledging "several hundred" extra troops to the mission. The article reports on an acrimonious debate in the French Parliament yesterday, and notes that only 15 per cent of the public back the deployment.

The IHT reports that senior officials in the French Socialist opposition party have dubbed Afghanistan a "new Vietnam" and criticised what they called Sarkozy's "Atlantic obsession." According to the paper, Jouyet said the uproar illustrated that for Europe to reinforce its defense capacity, it was imperative to do so under a European banner. "If we want Europeans to back this, it needs a European identity," he said.

Lord McNally, Lib Dem leader in the Lords said, "We will not abstain on a referendum amendment in the Lords. The arithmetic in the Commons is different from the Lords." He told reporters outside the Lords chamber that he would not even be moving an amendment on continued membership of the EU. He added: "WE WILL VOTE WITH THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST A REFERENDUM ON THE TREATY."

Director of the 'I Want a Referendum' campaign Neil O'Brien is quoted on PA: "The Liberal Democrats promised a referendum at the election, abstained in the Commons, and are now against a referendum in the Lords. THE LIB DEMS HAVE BEHAVED IN A DEEPLY HYPOCRITICAL AND DISHONEST WAY, SAYING ONE THING AND DOING ANOTHER."

"This is a humiliation for Nick Clegg. He has been unable to make his own peers follow his policy. This is very damaging for the Liberal Democrats' credibility. Baroness Shirley Williams, who is rumoured to have threatened defection to Labour if the Lib Dems backed a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty said of the promise of a referendum: "That commitment was embarrassing. I believe it was not in the interests of this country or in the interests of a good relationship with the rest of the EU."

Labour former leader Lord Kinnock, an ex-EU Commissioner, who also spoke in the debate, said the Treaty "DOES NOT CREATE A SINGLE NEW COMPETENCE FOR THE EU".

The work is part of investigations into a number of illnesses and the university has said it may lead to the development of new therapies for debilitating human conditions such as Parkinson's disease and strokes. Embryos were created by implanting DNA derived from human skin cells into eggs taken from cows' ovaries with virtually all their genetic material removed. These lasted for up to three days in the laboratory. By law, hybrid embryos have to be destroyed after 14 days.

Professor John Burn, head of the Institute of Human Genetics at the University, said the research was licensed by the UK's fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. The leader of Scottish Roman Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, used his Easter Sunday sermon to warn that the bill was a "monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life". Last week, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, bowed to demands that MPs be given a free vote on the bill before parliament next month.

The comments came against a backdrop of increasing Chinese accusations that Tibetans were planning violent attacks in their quest for increased autonomy, which the Tibetans deny. "Security must take priority," Hu was quoted as saying in the People's Armed Police News, published by China's paramilitary police force. "Without security guarantees there cannot be a successful Olympic Games, AND WITHOUT SECURITY GUARANTEES THE NATIONAL IMAGE WILL BE LOST."

In one of the latest accusations, a spokesman for the Public Security Bureau, Wu Heping, said Tuesday: "TO OUR KNOWLEDGE, THE NEXT PLAN OF THE TIBETAN INDEPENDENCE FORCES IS TO ORGANIZE SUICIDE SQUADS TO LAUNCH VIOLENT ATTACKS. They claimed that they fear neither bloodshed nor sacrifice." A senior official in the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India, immediately denied the Chinese accusations.

"TIBETAN EXILES ARE 100 PERCENT COMMITTED TO NON-VIOLENCE," said the official, Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche. "But we fear that Chinese might masquerade as Tibetans and plan such attacks to give bad publicity to Tibetans." The People's Armed Police News said that a "political mobilization order" had gone out to security forces telling them to prepare for an arduous time ensuring order and control before and during the Games.

"The drums of war are sounding, a decisive battle is at hand," the newspaper said. "For the sake of the Chinese nation's image and for the honor of the People's Armed Police, let us never forget our duty."

Recent indications suggest China's war of words against the Dalai Lama, denouncing him in increasingly shrill terms as a separatist and a terrorist, has increased international support for him. On Tuesday, the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said that THE DALAI LAMA COULD BE INVITED "SHORTLY" TO BRUSSELS TO MEET WITH EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN MINISTERS.

Appearing before a House committee, the executives were pressed to explain why they should continue to get billions of dollars in tax breaks when they made $123 billion last year and motorists are paying record gasoline prices at the pump. "On April Fool's Day, the biggest joke of all is being played on American families by Big Oil," Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said, aiming his remarks at the five executives sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in a congressional hearing room.

Markey was not impressed. "These companies are defending billions of federal subsidies - while reaping over a hundred billion dollars in profits in just the last year alone," he said. The companies are reaping "a windfall of revenue" while poor people have to choose between heating and eating because of high energy prices.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, many independent truckers parked their rigs and others slowed to a crawl on highways to protest high fuel prices.