“I was referring to anyone who would suspend the peace process.”Barak, responding to a violent Palestinian uprising, has declared a time-out in peacemaking with the PalestiniansBut Arafat said he was in Washington and saw Clinton on Thursday to prepare for another summit meeting with the Israeli leader.”This is why I am here,” Arafat said after a two-hour meeting with Clinton at the White House and a news conference in which he denounced Israel as the cause of violence that has shattered already enfeebled peace talks.”I would welcome any effort to convene another summit, provided we prepare for it and ensure its success,” Arafat said at a question-and-answer session sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.He stressed the agenda must include Jerusalem’s future and Palestinian refugees, issues that he said cannot be deferred.Implying Clinton would push the idea Sunday when he meets at the White House with Barak, the Palestinian leader said “President Clinton has promised to exert maximum effort” in the time he has left in office.A July summit at the president’s Camp David mountain retreat collapsed over Arafat’s demand for sovereignty over east Jerusalem. Barak offered some local control to the Palestinians in parts of the Old City, which was ruled by Jordan for 19 years until it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and united with the rest of the city.Arafat responded testily to queries about Palestinian children being part of the confrontation with Israel. Questioned about the children by an official of the pro-Israel lobby, American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, Arafat shouted: “Someone from AIPAC should have apologised for killing Palestinian children.”When the moderator, Frank Sesno, of CNN, asked at the Council of Foreign Relations session whether Palestinian children should be withdrawn from confrontation, Arafat stood up and sputtered: “I can’t permit you to speak to me in that language.”Earlier, after shaking hands with Clinton and saluting him as he left, Arafat told reporters in the White House’s rain-swept driveway that he had reaffirmed his commitment to making peace, and the outcome depended on the efforts exerted by Clinton.The White House gave no indication any ground was gained toward a firm truce or the more remote goal of reopening negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.In fact, administration officials abandoned the phrase “peace process” and replaced it with “political process.”A White House spokesman, P.J. Crowley, would not say whether Clinton asked Arafat for a public statement urging Palestinian protesters to stop their rock-throwing campaign against Israelis.But, Crowley said: “Clear statements by both leaders can only help.”"We continue to be frustrated,” Crowley told reporters.Arafat was defiant in his own exchange with reporters earlier. Thrusting at Israel, he said: “I am not the one who initiated the violence I am not the one who is attacking Israelis My tanks are not sieging Israeli towns. I did not order my tanks, my air force, my artillery, my heavy weapons, my navy.” He interrupted his interpreter to make sure his English was conveyed as he wished.”We are facing a very dangerous situation that is really hindering the peace process,” he said.”We are a nation with one airplane,” Arafat said as he left.On Friday, Arafat was due to consult with the U.N. Security Council, where support for the Palestinians is strong.

He wants the Council to approve establishment of a force to protect the Palestinians from Israel.. President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines said yesterday that a provincial governor, who has accused him of receiving gambling pay-offs, offered him 200m pesos (£2.8m) as a bribe, which he refused. President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines said yesterday that a provincial governor, who has accused him of receiving gambling pay-offs, offered him 200m pesos (£2.8m) as a bribe, which he refused.
Answering allegations made by Luis Singson, the governor of the northern Llocos Sur province, Mr Estrada said all the money was still in an account and would be used as evidence of his innocence at his impeachment trial.Mr Singson, President Estrada’s former gambling and drinking partner, has testified that the President asked him to collect millions of dollars in pay-offs from illegal gambling operators and said he delivered the money to the President.The House of Representatives is scheduled to prepare articles of impeachment next week. Mr Estrada is almost certain to be tried since more than the necessary 73 House members have signed a resolution backing impeachment.The President telephoned three radio stations in Manila to deny the accusations against him, saying Mr Singson had offered him a bribe from the gambling operators but that he had rejected it “I said, ‘I will not accept that’,” he said. “The money accumulated and he deposited it in several places. I learnt about it only lately.”He said Mr Singson had insisted on delivering the money and had asked an aide of his to give 200m pesos to an Estrada aide, the former minister for political affairs Edward Serapio.

The money was deposited in an account intended for young Muslim scholars, the President said.”The money is still intact, not even one cent of it has been spent,” Mr Estrada said.Critics have said the Muslim youth foundation was a front used by the President to cover up the pay-offs.Mr Estrada said his defence was ready and he would appear at an impeachment trial if required “There will be a time for truth and judgement It’s drawing near,” he said.. President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling party was leading the race for parliamentary seats yesterday after the final round of Egyptian elections, which the Islamic opposition said were marred by police intimidation and widespread irregularities. President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling party was leading the race for parliamentary seats yesterday after the final round of Egyptian elections, which the Islamic opposition said were marred by police intimidation and widespread irregularities.
Official results from the Interior Ministry showed that the National Democratic Party had consolidated its majority with 23 more seats, and 101 of its candidates would take part in Monday’s run-off.None of the 22 independent candidates backed by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood won a seat on Wednesday, but seven received enough votes to qualify for the run-off Two opposition candidates won seats on Wednesday. Brotherhood candidates won 15 seats – more than all the other opposition parties combined – in the two earlier stages of the polls.The Brotherhood has complained of vote-rigging andharassment, and said its supporters were deterred from voting in some areas. The group also accused the government of arresting and beating up scores of its supporters. Police fired tear gas at protesting opposition supporters at polling stations on Wednesday.Five people have been killed and dozens wounded sincepolling began on 18 October.. Experts in Egypt and Japan are using DNA analysis on the mummy of King Tutankhamun in an attempt to solve one of ancient Egypt’s great mysteries – who exactly he was.

Experts in Egypt and Japan are using DNA analysis on the mummy of King Tutankhamun in an attempt to solve one of ancient Egypt’s great mysteries – who exactly he was.
Although the magnificent contents of his tomb, including his golden mask, have made him one of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, very little is known about the boy king’s birth, short reign or death while still in his teens.Egyptian antiquities officials say the 4,500 items found around his coffin when Howard Carter opened his tomb in 1922 yielded few clues. They hope that modern scientific techniques might help to end a controversy about how he came to the throne more than 3,000 years ago.Japanese experts from Waseda University in Tokyo will do the tests next month.This will be the first examination of the mummy in more than 30 years. It has lain undisturbed in its tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor since it was last X-rayed in 1969.The Japanese, working with Egyptian antiquities officials and experts from the medicine and science departments of Ain Shams University, Cairo, will do similar DNA tests on the mummy of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, now in the Egyptian Museum, to try to establish Tutankhamun’s parentage. Amenhotep III is the father of Akhenaton, whom Tutankh-amun is thought to have succeeded when he was nine or 10. But the exact relationship between Akhenaton, Amenhotep and Tutankhamun is still the subject of intense debate.Gaballah Ali Gaballah, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Akhenaton, who married Queen Nefertiti, is only ever depicted with daughters, suggesting Tutankhamun may be Akhenaton’s son by another woman, or his brother.”Since Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, there’ve been squabbles about his lineage,” Mr Gaballah said.

“We want to know once and for all if there was a blood relationship between Amenhotep III and Tutankhamun and we’re hoping DNA can provide a conclusive answer. If this succeeds, it’ll open up all sorts of possibilities for determining lineage in ancient Egypt.”But DNA testing on mummies is still in its infancy. Nasry Iskander, an Egyptian expert on mummies, said extensive testing of ancient human and animal remains has been only partly successful, even in mummies much better preserved than Tutankhamun’s. Mr Iskander said that when Howard Carter found the mummy, it was stuck to Tutankhamun’s inner coffin with resin and Carter had to burn it to get it out, leaving it in “very poor shape”.DNA analysis will be difficult, said Mr Iskander.