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Softening up campaigns

Tony Blair, who arrived in

Scotland for the Labour party conference in Perth, warned taxes will have to rise in the budget

to pay for NHS and public

services. Peter Hain suggested

a referendum on the euro could

be held as early as next spring. Gordon Brown handed out a

rebuke but Jack Straw also made a pro-euro speech. Don't say we haven't been warned.

Air traffic financial crisis

Six months after the

part-privatisation of air traffic control, the government bailed

out the National Air Traffic Services with an emergency

(pounds) 30m. Another (pounds) 30m came

from the banks. The rescue package further underminded Stephen Byers, now known as Bungling Byers.

Fat chance of good health

A World Health Organisation study declared obesity a global epidemic, affecting 18% worldwide.

Numbers had increased 50% in seven years and included developing countries. Four fat

white British teenagers became

the first to develop type 2

adult diabetes.

Young, gifted and offski

SNP star Duncan Hamilton, 28,

the youngest MSP in Scotland, and too young to be disillusioned already, is to stand down in

the 2003 elections and

pursue a legal career. It must be

the money.

Mittal-fatigue sets in

Blair was accused of a cover-up over a controversial (pounds) 70m taxpayers loan for the Labour donor

Lakshmi Mittal to buy Romania's national steelworks. Downing

Street said it was hysteria

overload. An opinion poll showed 60% think Labour more sleazy

than the Conservatives.

Helicopter crash

Two police officers and a pilot survived when the Strathclyde police helicopter crashed in a

field in East Ayrshire. The

accident happened in bad

weather when the (pounds) 2.5m

chopper, which came into service in 2000, was responding to

reports of a child's cries. It was a false alarm.

abroad

Loss of confidence in Sharon

A devastating wave of Palestinian attacks shook Israeli faith in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who announced the building of buffer zones. Israelis said they were winning the battles but losing

the war. As their country recorded its worst economic performance

for 50 years, 1000 retired Israeli army generals launched a campaign for a withdrawal from Gaza and a declaration of a Palestinian state. A further 22 lives were lost in

48 hours.

Military clangers

In Kabul, British Paras opened fire on a taxi taking a woman in labour to hospital, killing one and wounding four more. The soldiers were later flown home for interrogation. Royal Marines in training launched a dawn assault from a landing craft on the wrong country - Spain instead of Gibraltar. Amused fishermen told them to try again at the bit where the rock sticks up.

Daniel Pearl dead

Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter captured by Islamic militants in Pakistan, was confirmed dead. A video of his execution was sent to the US embassy.

Dreadful events in US

Up to 200 bodies were found scattered around the Tri-State crematorium in Georgia.

It emerged the furnace had broken down several years ago and the privately owned business could not afford to repair it. Andrea Yates went on trial in Texas for

drowning her five children - aged seven, five, three, two, and six months - in the bath. Yates, 37, was said to be suffering from an extreme form of post-natal depression. The case has polarised public opinion in Texas, which executes more people than any other American state.

Smart sanctions on Mugabe

The European Union imposed

so-called smart sanctions on

Robert Mugabe less than three weeks before Zimbabwe's

elections. They include an arms embargo, travel ban, and

freezing of funds. Pierre Schori, head of the EU observer

mission, was expelled.

America moved to impose

similar sanctions. The UN

began food drops to 500,000 starving Zimbabweans.

Business

Rocky pension show

Pensions became a horror story as blue-chip companies closed

final-salary pension schemes and

called for something to replace

the FRS 17, the new rule on accounting for pensions which links them to company performance accounts. An entire generation of pensioners were warned they could face poverty. Former pension minister Frank Field described it as a ''mega tragedy''.

Hard(ish) times for the rich

Philip Purcell, chief executive of the US investment bank Morgan Stanley, has had his pay almost halved from $22m to $12.8

((pounds) 9m) as huge pay-cuts swept

the City and Wall Street.

Sir Ian Wood, MD of the

Aberdeen-based Wood group,

was named the richest man in Scotland with (pounds) 520m

Grass is gold as well as green

As news broke that cannabis may be prescribed as pill or a spray

for pain relief within two years, shares in GW Pharmaceuticals, which develops the drugs, rose

by 151/2 to 1461/2. The Medical Research Council is testing cannabis tablets on hundreds

of MS sufferers.

Sport

Better curlers than Carmen

Rhona Martin from Ayrshire led

a team of Scots to Olympic gold

in the nail-biting, last-stone

climax to the women's curling. Britain won bronze in the

skeleton bob. Australian

outsider Steven Bradbury did a Foinavon and won gold after everyone else crashed in the

1000m speed skating. The

Olympic Committee said the

saltire which British skier Alain Baxter dyed in his hair was a political statement and ordered

him to change it.

Rangers dreams are still alive

Rangers held Feyenoord to a

1-1 draw, leaving their UEFA

cup hopes hanging in the

balance. Millionaire grocer

Eddie Thompson tabled his

first offer in a campaign to wrest control of Dundee Utd away from Jim McLean and his family.

F1 in turmoil

Broadcasting and marketing rights to Formula One were put up

for sale by debt-stricken German media tycoon Leo Kirch. Bernie Ecclestone, former F1 owner,

and Rupert Murdoch are

both said to be interested.

The Prost team has gone bust

and Jaguar is thinking about pulling out.

Melanie Reid