TOXIC: The government has acknowledged its role in supplying the chemicals to a US base during the war in Vietnam, and a class suit action appears to be imminent
New Zealand supplied Agent Orange chemicals to the US military during the Vietnam war, a government minister has revealed.

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TRAUMATIZED: Countless numbers of dead are still missing amid the debris from the disaster, but relief operations are helping the living get back on their feet
Two weeks after it was hit by Asia's tsunami, parts of Banda Aceh are showing signs of life: customers haggle at markets overflowing with chilies, squawking chickens and tropical fruits. Barber shops are open, and old men while away the morning sipping coffee and puffing on pungent clove cigarettes in street-side cafes.

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Foreign dignitaries have brought welcome promises of help to Indonesia's devastated Aceh region, but they're also creating traffic problems at the area's tiny main airport. The stream of visiting VIPs has clogged the only landing strip and slowed critical aid deliveries, humanitarian workers complained Saturday.

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A survivor of the tsunami in Thailand has spoken of his anguish after he was forced to push away a pregnant woman who was clinging desperately to him.

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MORBID THOUGHTS: The belief that crustaceans may become diseased after feeding off corpses of tsunami victims is affecting the fishing market in the region
Demand for fish and seafood has plunged across Asia -- as have prices -- on unfounded fears that species in the Indian Ocean are feeding off bodies washed out to sea by the Dec. 26 tsunami, The Sunday Times said.

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SHOOTOUT: Police killed five suspects in an operation to eliminate those thought to be responsible for attacks in Ingushetia in June which claimed the lives of 90 people
More than 100 police and security agents backed by five armored personnel carriers surrounded a house in the restive southern Russian region of Ingushetia on Saturday and killed five alleged militants in a shootout, the Interior Ministry said.

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NHS: Despite concern about hygiene standards and a rise in the number of superbug infections, staff cuts have been driven by contractors squeezing costs to boost profits
The UK's hospitals have half the number of cleaners they had 20 years ago, a shocking decline which is being linked to the huge rise in the number of deadly superbug infections in the tax-funded National Health Service (NHS).

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MURDER MYSTERY: After seven years of resistance by the Holy See, a high-profile lawyer will file a legal claim on behalf of one of the victims' mother
Seven years after a controversial triple killing within the Pope's Swiss Guards, a Swiss court is to open a murder inquiry.

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Bosnian Serb President Dragan Cavic on Saturday named Pero Bukejlovic of the ruling nationalists as the entity's next prime minister and asked him to form a government.

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INAUGURATION: Republicans are planning an ostentatious celebration of the `red' team's election win that some critics have derided as `obscene' in a time of war
It will be one of the biggest parties in US history, but half of the country will be left out. With a price tag of up to US$50 million, US President George W Bush's inauguration in 10 days' time will be an unashamed celebration of Red America's victory over Blue America in last November's election.

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GUILTY: The US Army sergeant who ordered two Iraqi men be thrown into the Tigris River, leading to the death of one, will do time in jail but not be discharged
An Army platoon sergeant who ordered his soldiers to throw Iraqis into the Tigris River was sentenced to six months in military prison, but will not be discharged.

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About 180 people, including some who spent more than 12 hours stuck in deep snow in the San Bernardino Mountains, were rescued as the latest in a series of storms struck California. The storms quickly moved eastward, closing all three major highways over the Sierra Nevada.

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In separate cases at two Manhattan high schools, city investigators said Friday, two school employees engaged in consensual sexual activity with 18-year-old students.

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BUYING SUPPORT: A US radio commentator was sacked after he admitted to taking money from the Bush administration to promote its education law
A conservative columnist has been dropped by a major syndication service because he accepted a payment from the Bush administration to promote a federal education law to fellow blacks and to give the education secretary media time.

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