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People across the world think the U.S.-led “war on terror” has not weakened al Qaeda and many believe it has actually strengthened Osama bin Laden’s network, a poll for the BBC World Service said on Monday.

The poll of almost 24,000 citizens found people in 22 out of 23 countries surveyed thought attempts to counter al Qaeda since its September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States had not weakened it.

The predominant view was that neither side was winning, the BBC said.

“Despite its overwhelming military power, America’s war against al Qaeda is widely seen as having achieved nothing better than a stalemate and many believe that it has even strengthened al Qaeda,” said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which helped carry out the research.

Kenya — which experienced deadly al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. embassy in 1998 and on an Israeli-owned hotel in 2002 — was the only country where a majority thought al Qaeda has been weakened.

In the United States, only 34 percent believed al Qaeda had been made weaker with 26 percent reckoning the “war on terror” had had no effect and 33 percent thinking it had made the militants stronger.

The majority U.S. perception was that neither the United States nor al Qaeda were winning.

More than 40 percent of citizens in France, Mexico, Italy, Australia and Britain believed the “war on terror” had strengthened al Qaeda.

While the majority of people questioned had negative views of al Qaeda, more citizens in Egypt and Pakistan had mixed or positive views of the group than negative feelings.

The poll, conducted by GlobeScan with the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, involved 23,937 people in 23 countries between July and September 2008.

President Bush is considering whether to address Americans directly about the financial crisis, and his spokesperson said Wednesday says the nation risks “calamity” without bold action to address the problem.

The nation’s economic meltdown and intense negotiations with Congress over a rescue package the Bush administration has requested, led the president to return to Washington early Wednesday from a three-day stay in New York. He canceled a planned trip to Florida, where he had been scheduled to raise campaign cash for Republican candidates later in the day.

“This is a huge moment for America and if we don’t take decisive and bold action, we could be facing financial calamity,” White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters traveling on Bush’s plane.

She said the president has been trying to address the public’s many questions and concerns, and was weighing whether, as well as when and where, to give a formal address as a way to continue to do that.

“Those are all questions we’re still working on,” she said.

Earlier in New York, Bush said he believes a bailout will be passed despite the fierce debate over his proposed $700 billion plan.

“I am confident when it’s all said and done, that there will be a robust plan,” the president said.

He spoke before a meeting to discuss free trade with leaders of other Western Hemisphere nations, one the last events in his trip to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly. The president was greeted there by world leaders who themselves had many questions about the turmoil in the United States markets.

Bush put a positive spin on what those leaders were seeing take place in the U.S. political system.

“They can see our legislative process is full of give-and-take, that there’s ample debate,” he said.

An Indian American student has been identified as one of 25 people who died when a Metrolink commuter train had a head-on collision with a freight train near Los Angeles Friday.Atul Vyas, 20, was on the train on his way home to Simi Valley in southern California from Claremont McKenna College, where he was preparing for a career as a medical doctor. He was seeking admission in a graduate programme next year at MIT and Harvard.

His engineer father Vijay Vyas was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying: ‘He was a thoroughly brilliant kid, flying high.’

Vyas took the train home every two or three weeks to enjoy the comforts of family, and loved the convenience.

As he passed through downtown Los Angeles, he called his mother to let her know when to pick him up in Simi Valley, his father said.

Vyas enjoyed sports, including basketball, and ‘all kinds of weird dancing. You know these kids, they’re into weird things’, his father said. Though of Indian descent, Vyas was inducted into a Latino club at school because ‘they loved him so much. He was a very popular kid’.

Besides Vyas, seven other victims of the train disaster were from Simi Valley, a hidden valley surrounded by mountains and hills. Investigations reveal the accident was caused by the train engineer not heeding a red signal.

Archaeologists have uncovered a treasure of gold jewellery, weapons and pottery at a burial ground near the birthplace of Alexander the Great, the Greek culture ministry said Thursday.Excavations taking place at an ancient burial site near Pella, the capital of ancient Macedonia in northern Greece, have revealed 43 previously undiscovered graves dating from 650-279 BC, a culture ministry statement said.

The discoveries include the graves of 20 warriors who had been buried between 580-480 BC. Some were buried in copper helmets, iron swords and knives with their eyes, mouths and chests covered in gold foil decorated with drawings of lions and other animals.

Officials at the ministry said a total of 915 graves have been excavated over the past eight years at the site of Arhontiko, approximately 590 km northwest of Athens.

Archaeologists hope the new discovery will shed greater light on the Macedonian kingdom, which during the reign of Alexander the Great, stretched as far away as to India.

Alexander, educated by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, conquered many parts of the Middle East and Central Asia before dying at the age of 32 in Babylon.

Solomon Henderson inherited just three things from his birth parents, who left him at an Ethiopian orphanage when he was 1 year old: a picture of Jesus, a plastic crucifix and HIV.

As one of some 14,000 Ethiopian children born with the virus every year, Solomon’s prospects for survival — much less adoption — were grim. But Erin Henderson’s heart stirred when she saw him, and she decided, on the spot, to adopt him.

“They told me that they weren’t sure he would live through the weekend,” Henderson said by e-mail from her home in rural Wyoming, where she lives with her husband and 11 children, two of whom are HIV-positive adoptees from Ethiopia.

Solomon, now an active 2-year-old with chubby cheeks and a shy smile, is part of a small but growing movement: Americans adopting HIV-positive children from abroad.

Figures from U.S.-based Adoption Advocates International, the agency that arranges the majority of HIV-positive adoptions in Ethiopia, show a clear and steady rise, from two such adoptions in 2005, four in 2006, 13 in 2007, and 38 either completed or pending this year.

The U.S. Embassy corroborates the trend, although its numbers are slightly different because it counts adoptions according to fiscal year. So far this year, the embassy said, Americans have adopted 25 HIV-positive children from Ethiopia, up from seven the year before.

Ethiopia is at the forefront of the trend, in part because it is a well-established adoption hub. But countries including China, Ghana, Haiti and Russia also have seen increases, although the numbers remain small — fewer than five children in each country this year, according to U.S. adoption agencies that work with HIV-positive children. The figures could be higher, however, as many nations do not ask if a departing child has HIV.

The motivations are wide-ranging — some parents say they were driven by religion or a desire for social change, or that the disease is more manageable than ever before. Others, like Julie Hehn, gave more personal reasons.

“I was just scrolling through these pictures, and I saw the photo of Tsegenet, and I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s my daughter,’” said Hehn, a 53-year-old elementary school teacher from Edmonds, Wash.

Hehn said she was not looking for an HIV-positive child when she decided to adopt from Ethiopia.

“I fell in love with Tsegenet and it just happens she’s HIV-positive,” said Hehn, who has 27 children, 19 of them adopted from Ethiopia and five adopted from the U.S.

At a recent goodbye party at an orphanage in Addis Ababa, a 9-year-old girl who was heading to the United States with her adoptive family gave a shy smile as her friends ate doughnuts and sang farewell songs.

The children — all of whom have HIV or AIDS and are looking for new families — belted out an Ethiopian hymn called “No one is ashamed of you.”

Ethiopian adoptions to the United States peaked at 1,255 in 2007, and the adoption of HIV-positive children is growing in step, according to U.S. government figures. American adoptions in Ethiopia have steadily risen from 135 in 2003, to 289 in 2004 to 440 in 2005 to 731 in 2006.

So far, none of the children adopted through Adoption Advocates International in Ethiopia since 2005 has died. The oldest is now 13 years old.

Margaret Fleming, the founder of Chances By Choice, an international HIV-positive adoption advocacy group that connects parents with HIV-positive children and adoption agencies, said her group also has overseen adoptions of children from Haiti, Guatemala and Russia.

Fleming said her group has helped bring about 52 international HIV-positive adoptions since 2002 from assorted adoption agencies and countries, including Ethiopia.

Fleming, who has three HIV-positive children in her own brood of 12 children, said she wanted to make a difference in the world.

“I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of making an impact on this epidemic,” Fleming, 72, said by telephone from her office in Chicago. “It’s given us a chance to be ambassadors, and our children to be ambassadors.”

Over the past decade, HIV has become a manageable, chronic disease, rather than a death sentence. Some children, like Solomon, require daily medication that can cost between $700 and $1,500 a month, though all parents planning to adopt children with HIV are required to carry health insurance, so costs are usually less.

Others, like Tsegenet Hehn, have been told by doctors that the low levels of the virus in their blood mean they don’t need any medication.

“She doesn’t get sick any more than my other children,” said Hehn, who said another daughter, who has a condition that makes her react violently to wheat and gluten products, requires more care than Tsegenet does.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt said HIV-positive adoptees pose no public health threat in America. Congress is set to repeal legislation that requires those with HIV to get waivers to enter the U.S. For adopted children with HIV, the waiver requirement can increase the nine- to 12-month adoption process by about two weeks.

“The American people are compassionate people,” Leavitt told the AP on a visit to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. “I applaud their compassion and I’m delighted to know they’re doing so.”

But parents overwhelmingly say the reward is theirs.

“I have learned so much from Tsegenet,” Hehn said. “I have learned to be more patient and kind through Tsegenet.”

Like some parents interviewed, Hehn says she insists on being open with everyone about her daughter’s condition.

“I’m a teacher. I want to educate everybody I can educate,” she said. “And I believe it is the only way we can erase the stigma. I am not going to tell her that there is not one part of her that is not beautiful and wonderful and pure.”

Two boatloads of international activists who defied Israel’s blockade of Gaza set sail for Cyprus on Thursday, carrying seven Gaza Palestinians who had been confined to the territory.

Israel’s navy made no effort to stop the vessels, flying Palestinian flags, as they ferried the Gaza’s and dozens of “Free Gaza” demonstrators away from the territory’s Mediterranean coastline.

The two small boats sailed into Gaza last Saturday to protest Israel’s yearlong blockade of Gaza, imposed after the Islamic militant group Hamas overran the territory.

Since that fighting, Israel has allowed only minimal humanitarian supplies to enter, causing severe shortages and hardships. Also, few Gazans are permitted to leave due to Israeli and Egyptian travel restrictions.

Israel’s decision to allow the boats to reach Gaza and then to sail unhindered back to Cyprus was an attempt to deny the protesters a propaganda victory, said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

“If they are just carrying a few Palestinians, that is not a problem,” he said, while adding that the Israeli navy had the right to stop the boats for inspection. As the boats prepared to enter international waters, there were no reports of Israeli naval activity.

Palmor indicated that Israel would have taken action if the protesters had tried to smuggle out wanted activists or dangerous materials.

The Palestinians on board included a father and his 16-year-old son, who hopes to be fitted with an artificial leg. Protest organizers said the youth lost his leg in an Israeli tank shelling incident.

The other Palestinian passengers were a mother and her four children who have residency permits in Cyprus, organizers said.

Several of the protesters stayed behind in Gaza. Another who did not make the trip was Jeff Halper, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who was arrested when he returned to Israel on Tuesday and released on bail Wednesday.

Israelis are banned from entering Gaza and from contacting Hamas, which is listed as a terror group, and Halper said he expected to be charged. Israeli officials had no comment.

“On Monday, I got Palestinian citizenship,” Halper said. “On Tuesday, I’m already in an Israeli jail.” Israeli officials said Halper’s accepting a Palestinian passport did not endanger his Israeli citizenship, but emphasized that he remains bound by Israeli law.

Halper said he was not mistreated in custody, but he was threatened by Israeli prisoners because of his political activities on behalf of Palestinians.

“During this whole trip to Gaza, the only time I was generally scared was in an Israeli prison,” he told The Associated Press.

Beijing has an array of must-see Olympic architecture and an improved public transport system aimed at helping to diminish notorious pollution. Reuters correspondents with local knowledge offer tips for making the most of the city by bike, foot and public transport. FRIDAY

5 p.m. - Take a walk or pedal a bike back in time in Beijing’s disappearing hutong alleyways for a glimpse into the sleepy Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) life the city knew when it became a capital around 1283.

A maze of car-less, mostly Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasty hutong lie to the north and south of the central Forbidden City, and around nearby Houhai’s three picturesque lakes. Wandering is the best option, as the sometimes nameless alleys are too small to be on maps.

7 p.m. - Rest under shady willow trees, or in a lakeside cafe or bar such as No Name. Said to be Houhai’s first bar, it has a range of strong Vietnamese, Irish and other iced coffees and snacks. (Tel: 6618 6061) Across the lake and down another hutong its sister restaurant, No Name Yunnan Restaurant, has a rooftop terrace and South China specialities.

9.30 p.m. - Take a post-dinner stroll around brand-new Games venues the Bird’s Nest national stadium and Water Cube aquatic center. A new subway line leads up to the perimeter fence around the futuristic buildings, which are lit up with glowing colours from 7.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. every night.

10.30 p.m. - Zip over to Sanlitun, the main bar district, via the new subway line 10 (Tuanjiehu stop). There are bars for all tastes, from the very glamorous such as Q Bar to the rather seedy Kai bar. Take your pick.

SATURDAY

5 a.m. - Early risers can watch the sunrise flag raising ceremony in Tian’anmen, the world’s largest public square and a vast concrete expanse dominated by the memory of Mao Zedong, who founded the People’s Republic in 1949.

8.30 a.m. - Mao’s mummified body lies in a free-to-visit central mausoleum, open 8.00 a.m. to 12 p.m. except Mondays, and his portrait hangs over the Tian’anmen Gate, centre of the city’s north-south central axis and entrance to the Forbidden City.

10 a.m. - For a newer “new China” monument walk west from the square, past the dark-red walls of government compound Zhongnanhai, and cross the street to “The Egg”.

The glittering glass National Centre for the Performing Arts lies inside a shallow moat whose rim, and small surrounding park, have become a popular hang out spot.

12 p.m. - Four blocks away, just south of Tian’anmen (tube stop Qianmen) is the former Legation quarter, home to foreign missions from 1861 to 1959 and Beijing’s most significant collection of early twentieth century European architecture.

A handful of buildings remaining, including the more than 100-year old former U.S. Embassy, are being restored by developers who plan high-end restaurants and arts and entertainment venues.

2 p.m. - Head north for late lunch and galleries at Timezone 8 bookshop and cafe, or At Cafe, in 798 Dashanzi arts district off the airport expressway.

Built with East German co-operation in the 1950s, the sprawling state-run munitions factory downsized after 1980s reforms, and since the late 1990s has been overtaken by art galleries, bookshops and cafes. Don’t miss the photo gallery.

4 p.m. - China National Film Museum is a few blocks north in newer arts district Caochangdi, a quiet village where Bird’s Nest co-designer Ai Weiwei and dozens of well-respected artists and galleries have migrated.

7 p.m. - Hungry? Scruffy and grey by day, central-east Dongzhimennei Dajie, nicknamed Gui Jie or “Ghost Street” glams up at night with hundreds of red lanterns lining its 2-km (mile) stretch of restaurants.

Stylish Hua Jia Yi Yuan in a revamped old “siheyuan” courtyard is walking distance from Dongzhimen subway. Its private rooms, open courtyards and cloistered back garden serve classic but modern Beijing and Sichuan dishes.

10 p.m. - Karaoke time. Party like the locals do at Partyworld in your own private room. A large selection of English songs, and a positively encyclopedic selection of Chinese songs, are on offer.

SUNDAY

9 a.m. - Circling the six post-1980s ring roads that loop modern Beijing is a daily ritual for millions. Take the 300 bus around the 3rd ring road to the southeastern antiques mecca of Panjiayuan.

Open from 4:30 a.m. onwards, its 3,000 market stalls sell everything from cheap Mao watches to Qing-style furniture, ceramics, books, trendy lanterns, clothes, jewelery, silks and more. (Tel: 6775 2405).

12 p.m. - Returning north along the third ring, pass the incomplete icon, Rem Koolhaas’ “crooked trousers” CCTV Tower, which state broadcaster China Central Television will move to. The vertigo-inducing structure joins two towers sloped together with a gravity-defying canopy at 80 storeys’ height.

12.30 p.m. - Jump off at Tuanjiehu station to refuel, refresh and recharge with an ethical (ie: tofu or wheat-gluten-based) lunch of imperial favorite sharks’ fin or mock Peking duck in the aesthetic and tasty monk-run vegetarian restaurant Pure Lotus. (Tel: 6592 3627)

2 p.m. - Walk west from Beixinqiao station along Jiaodaokou and then Gulou Dong Dajie to yet another historic center — the Drum and Bell Tower first built under Mongol leader Kublai Khan in 1272.

Reconstructed hutong Nanluoguxiang’s trendy collection of boutiques and bars is signposted off to the right, half-way along the tree and music shop-lined Gulou.

The beat from the drum tower (gulou) kept time during the Yuan Ming and Qing dynasties, waking the city as early as 5 a.m. At dusk the bell tower opposite rang to announce the city walls’ closure.

Rebuilt many times, both are open to the public; though just as popular are nearby alleyways harboring cafes and bars such as the rooftop Drum and Bell (Tel: 8403 3600), and courtyard bar with a twist, Bed Tapas and Bar (Tel: 8400 1554).

6:30 p.m. - If it’s a clear day, trek south a few blocks to imperial remnant Jinshang Park for an unbeatable panoramic view over the metropolis.

Climb to high-point Wanchun Pavilion and watch the light fade over the golden roofs of the 600-year-old Forbidden City.

7.30 p.m. - No Beijing visit would be complete without Peking duck — try the real deal before you leave and Da Dong is a good bet, not too touristy and as popular with the locals as it is with visitors. (Tel: 6582 2892)

A day after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha withdrew support to his Government reducing it to a minority, Chief Minister Madhu Koda was asked by Governor Syed Sibtey Razi on Monday to prove his majority on the floor of the House on or before August 25. Razi took the decision after Koda met him in the evening and sought time to undergo floor test to prove his majority. “He has been given a week. This is sufficient time for him to prove his claim,” Governor’s spokesperson S S Akhter told The Indian Express.

Anticipating withdrawal of support by the JMM’s 17 MLAs, the Koda Government had forwarded a proposal to the Governor to convene the monsoon session of the Assembly beginning September 28. In response, the office of the Governor on Saturday had issued a one-line notification to convene the session from September 19.

However, Razi withdrew the notification and set the deadline for Koda. “Even if the Congress, RJD and Independents came up in his favour, Koda will not be able to mobilise the magic figure required to prove the majority. He will be left with no option but to quit before the floor test,” said JMM secretary Madan Naik.

However, Koda, who presided a meeting of his Cabinet this afternoon, exuded confidence. “The game will be settled on the floor of the House. I have the majority and I will prove it,” said Koda.

Although five of the eight Independents — Deputy CM Stephen Marandi, Kamlesh Singh, Enos Ekka, Harinarain Rai and Chandra Prakash Choudhary - continued to back Koda, they seem to have changed their stance and indicated that their future course of action would depend on the decision arrived by the UPA leadership in New Delhi.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Friday rejected reports that he would step down before the launch of impeachment proceedings against him, saying he was prepared to face the motion in Parliament in a “democratic spirit”.

During a meeting with his allies in the opposition PML-Q, Musharraf made it clear that he would not quit as he had been constitutionally elected with a heavy mandate. He also said there was “no reason for him to step down”.

The statement came amid reports that Pakistan’s ruling coalition is considering the possibility of giving the former military ruler “safe passage” if he resigns.

PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his cousin Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, leader of opposition in the National Assembly, met Musharraf in his camp office in Rawalpindi to discuss the prevailing political situation, particularly the move to impeach the President.

Hussain and Elahi were quoted by TV channels as saying that Musharraf had told them he would not resign.

Musharraf also said that if an impeachment motion is moved against him in the Parliament, he will face it in a “democratic spirit and in accordance with the Constitution”.

The beleaguered President also made it clear that he had no intention of using his powers to dissolve Parliament.

The former military ruler also lashed out at ex-premier and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, saying he was “bent on destabilising the system, democracy and the country” and also told Hussain and Elahi that Sharif’s “intentions will fail”.

Speaking in Lahore yesterday, Sharif, who was deposed as premier by Musharraf in a bloodless military coup in 1999, had said the President should not be given a safe exit if he resigned.

The PML-Q leaders briefed Musharraf on the current situation and assured him of their party’s full support in countering any impeachment motion in Parliament.

Other things being equal, I will pick up the local newspaper. It provides me with a perspective I may not be familiar with. And small to medium sized local papers are often more thoughtfully produced. At least they are interesting.