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Our World this Week
Updated: 30-Aug-2002

A week after the discovery of the bodies of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in a remote woodland near Lakenheath in Suffolk, their home community, Soham, is still in shock and a country is in mourning. Perhaps the only redeeming feature in this tragedy is the way it has brought people together. Sports figures and personalities have all expressed their heart-felt solidarity with the grief and suffering of the girls’ families. The shock remains. This past week it was learned that the alleged perpetrators of this crime were a young couple. Twenty-eight year old Ian Huntley, St Andrew’s Primary school caretaker, has been charged with a double murder. He remains in Rampton high security hospital in Nottinghamshire undergoing psychiatric evaluation which will determine whether he can stand trial. But doctors have ruled he is not fit to appear in person at the hearing scheduled for this week. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, a one-time teaching assistant, has been charged with perverting the course of justice. She was the object of the community’s ire when she appeared before a judge to be charged.

In the media frenzy that has followed details of what happened to the two girls have been made public and there are fears that some reports may prejudice the murder trial.

Discussions continue at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Summit delegates heard a call on Monday from South Africa’s President Mbeki for them to come up with practical ways of tackling poverty and ending a world order based on the “survival of the fittest”.

Debates on health and biodiversity also began on Monday for the 40,000 delegates set to stay in Johannesburg for ten days of talks.

But critics claim that that the broad agenda of this summit is creating almost endless scope for disagreements and is also making consensus very difficult to achieve. Delegates from the European Union have complained that their American counterparts are not prepared to sign up to specific targets on issues such as energy and water, arguing that instead of new targets countries should try to keep to existing commitments. But South African Water Minister Ronnie Kasrils told the BBC that differences were slowly narrowing over setting targets for reducing the number of people lacking proper sanitation. No formal treaties will be signed at the summit, but Mr Mbeki said that the final declaration had to be “credible and meaningful” and more than 100 heads of state are expected to sign it. However, the president of the US – the world’s largest economy and biggest polluter – is not attending the meeting.

Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the UK’s Sustainable Development Commission, has voiced strong critisism of the Blair governement’s role in achieving environmentally friendly development. He accused Tony Blair of “naïve adultation” of the business world.

Back in the US, Vice-President Dick Cheney has given one of the clearest signals yet that the Bush administration intends to depose Saddam Hussein. Mr Cheney said a policy of containment was no longer an option because doing nothing was riskier than acting against the Iraqi leader. But the Gulf state of Qatar has added its voice to Arab opposition over US strikes. Meanwhile, other US officials stressed that no decision has yet been made on what to do or when.

Also in the US, a doctor, who police say was planning to bomb Islamic centres in Florida in the days leading up to the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks , was due to appear in court this week. Dr Robert Goldstein, 37, was arrested after police discovered weapons and bombs and a list of 50 Islamic centres, including schools, inside his Tampa home. The Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, held an emergency meeting to discuss the plot after it was revealed that the FBI is still not sure whether Dr Goldstein was part of a group or acting alone. But leaders of Florida’s Muslim community claim that Bush is not doing enough to protect them and are calling for increased security around Islamic centres.

In Spain, masked police have closed the national headquarters of the Batasuna party – widely seen as the political wing of armed separatist group ETA – in a raid in the northern city of Pamplona. The move follows a vote by a special session of the Spanish parliament to seek an indefinite ban on the party passed by 295 to 10 votes, and a decision by Judge Baltasar Garzon to suspend it for three years. Fernando Barrena, a  Batasuna party spokesman, was outraged by the move, saying: “This is what they mean in Madrid when they talk about democracy and peace.” Party lawyer Jone Goirizelaia said Batasuna would appeal against the ruling. Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has backed the move and confirmed that Batasuna would be pursued relentlessly. “As of Monday the countdown begins for the political arm of terror,” he said.

British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, is set to tell business leaders that a European constitution could help change people’s perception of the EU as a distant and ungoverned institution by making it more accountable and clarifying what powers should be left to national governments. But Conservatives have accusing Straw of “caving in” to those who want a European superstate. Mr Straw’s speech to the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce is the first stop in his UK tour to argue the benefits of EU membership. Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said: “This is a clear indication that they have now caved in to the Euro integrationalists, to the people who want to see full political union.”

Opinion polls show the gap is closing between Germany’s Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Christian Democrat rival, Edmund Stoiber. In a television debate Stoiber scored points by emphasising Schroeder’s dismal record at reducing unemployment. But Germany’s worst floods in recorded history have played in favour of the Chancellor. The Germans go to the polls in September.

Meanwhile in Asia, the central Chinese city of Wuhan is getting ready to bear the brunt of the rising Yangtze river. About 7.5 million people are in danger of losing their homes and about 250 people are feared dead in the Hunnan and Yunan provinces.

And this is one for the X-Files. The Pentagon plans to send a team of experts to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to investigate whether the recent killings of four women there, allegedly by their Army husbands, are connected. Pentagon and army officials said the probe by medical and other specialists would include whether the killings might be related to a widely used anti-malaria drug which can prompt rare side effects such as rage and suicidal tendencies.