A judgement has been handed to Ethiopia and Eritrea which it is hoped will finally settle their long-standing border dispute in which tens of thousands were killed during a two-year war.

Ethiopia was jubilant about the new 1,000km (620 mile) boundary, decided by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. 

Ethiopia accepts the ruling - Ethiopia is satisfied

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin

Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin said the country had won the land it had claimed, and declared that Eritrea had lost the case, just as it had lost the war. 

But Eritrean state television denounced the Ethiopian comments.

"Whatever the Ethiopian Government has announced is a lie," a presenter said in comments broadcast during the half-time break of a football match.

The United Nations has now made the full border judgement public.

Both countries have promised to respect the decision as part of an agreement to end the conflict, in which about 80,000 people were killed.

Hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes during the war

The boundary, decided by a five-member panel of judges, treaty experts and international jurists, was revealed to the two countries on Saturday.

The BBC's Martin Plaut says Ethiopia seems to have achieved many of its goals.

A number of key towns and villages have been awarded to Addis Ababa, including the western border town of Badme, over which the war was started.

Click here to see a map of the region

Zalembessa - also the scene of heavy fighting - has gone to Ethiopia too, as have the towns of Alitena - in the central sector of the border - and Bada in the east.

But our correspondent says Eritrea appears to have made some gains in the west.

Peace deal

Fighting broke out in May 1998 when Eritrea - which won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 - invaded territory Ethiopia considered to be within its national borders.

We paid so much sacrifice to chase the Eritreans from these places, how can anyone hand them over to Eritrea?

Ethiopian petrol station attendant Betru Kassa

After months of heavy fighting, Ethiopian troops captured much of the smaller country's prime agricultural land.

Eritrea, which has a population of 3.5 million compared to Ethiopia's 65 million, agreed to end hostilities in June 2000.

A peace deal was signed six months later and set the terms for the border commission.

But relations have remained strained and the United Nations has 4,200 peacekeepers patrolling a buffer zone around the disputed areas.

The UN envoy to the region, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, was optimistic about the outcome of the ruling by the panel of three Americans, a Nigerian and a Briton. 

"It is no longer about accepting this decision because they have agreed that it will be binding and final," he said.

"Hopefully it will open a new chapter of peaceful relations."

Colonial maps

Lawyers for each side presented the panel with maps and treaties dating back to the colonial era at the turn of the last century to support their claims to the fertile farmland.

Correspondents say the decision is bound to be controversial and both sides initially believed it would be in their favour.

So many people were killed in the fighting, that passions run high.

An Ethiopian petrol station attendant, Betru Kassa, told the Associated Press news agency: "We paid so much sacrifice to chase the Eritreans from these places, how can anyone hand them over to Eritrea?"

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Germany has said it believes a lorry explosion at a synagogue in Tunisia that killed 13 people, including eight Germans, was a deliberate attack and not an accident as first reports suggested.

Taking into account the latest developments in the inquiry it was probably an attack

Otto Schily

Interior Minister Otto Schily said the latest information obtained by the German and Tunisian governments indicated that the blast on the resort island of Djerba had been planned. 

He said the explosion appeared to be a terrorist attack which was aimed at the synagogue not at the coach carrying a party of German tourists which took much of the force of the explosion.

Tunisian authorities had earlier said the blast was an accident, but Mr Schily insisted there was no division between the two governments.

German federal police officials have been sent to Tunisia to assist in the investigation of Thursday's explosion at La Ghriba Jewish shrine.

Most of the victims were tourists

Israel has already said it suspects the gas tanker blast was a terrorist attack linked to the crisis in the Middle East.

Mr Schily said: "The latest information and indications we have been getting from both inside the country and outside have pointed increasingly towards an attack."

As well as the eight Germans, the blast killed a Frenchman, a Tunisian tour guide and three other Tunisians.

Another 30 people, mostly Germans, were seriously hurt in the explosion.

On Saturday, Jewish men and teenagers held a solemn sabbath service amid the blackened interior of their historic synagogue.

The Jews of Djerba

Ghriba, whose foundations are said to date from 586 BC, is one of Africa's oldest synagogues and is still functioning.

Work of wonder

La Ghriba means "the one who works wonders"  There are more than 1,000 Jews on Djerba  Ancestors believed to have arrived more than 2,000 years ago  Said to have been founded after the Jewish Exodus of 556 BC  Place of pilgrimage for Sephardic Jews, second only to Jerusalem's Western Wall  Houses unique collection of Torahs

It attracts several thousand visitors for an annual spring festival.

The island of Djerba, off Tunisia's southeast coast, is a popular holiday destination.

It is also home to around 1,000 of Tunisia's 3,000 Jews.

Many Jews left mainland Tunisia for Israel following the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, and more when the synagogue in the capital Tunis was burned down during the 1967 Middle East conflict. 

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has pledged to make necessary changes after completing a dramatic return to power, two days after being forced out by the country's military.

I come disposed to make corrections where I have to make corrections

Hugo Chavez

He formally resumed his presidential powers in a televised ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace in the capital, Caracas.

The US called on Mr Chavez to make good use of his second chance and to recognise that his people had sent him a "clear message" to change.

But uncertainty remains about the country's vital oil industry where production had been cut to near half in a strike that was at the heart of the takeover by business leader Pedro Carmona.

In his strongest conciliatory gesture, Mr Chavez used his address to announce the resignations of the board of directors he appointed to the state-owned oil monopoly PDVSA.

There were jubilant scenes at the presidential palace

Opposition to the appointments - viewed as an attempt by Mr Chavez to increase his power over the oil industry - swelled and triggered a general strike and massive demonstrations that were a precursor to the short-lived government takeover.

PDVSA workers will meet on Monday to consider whether to continue returning to normal.

A company statement on Friday said daily output for the world's fourth-largest oil producer had fallen to 1.4 million barrels from a norm of 2.6 million barrels.

Corrections

 Mr Chavez said he had to reflect on many things that had become apparent as opposition turned to bloody protests.

"I come disposed to make corrections where I have to make corrections," he said.

Mr Chavez said he had not expected to return so soon and had started writing poems, though he did not have a chance to finish the first one.

Soldiers loyal to Chavez had occupied the roof of the presidential palace

He also promised: "There will be no witch hunts, no persecution, no disrespect for free expression or thought."

But Mr Carmona has been arrested and his family - worried for his safety - have called on the Roman Catholic Church to intervene to protect him, according to news agencies in Venezuela.

 Earlier, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice called for national reconciliation.

"We do hope that Mr Chavez... takes advantage of this opportunity to right his own ship which has, quite frankly, been moving in the wrong direction for some time," she said.

The UK welcomed Mr Chavez's return to power, saying that any change of government should be achieved by democratic means.

Chavez comeback

Thursday: Anti-government protest in Caracas leaves 13 people dead  Friday: Military forces President Chavez to step down and appoints Pedro Carmona as interim leader  Saturday: Carmona resigns; Diosdado Cabello - a Chavez ally - sworn in to replace him  Sunday: Chavez flies back to Caracas

Mr Chavez's allies Iraq and Cuba were jubilant and Brazil also said it supported his reinstatement.

The surprise turnaround came after interim leader Mr Carmona resigned in the face of massive street protests and the loss of military support.

Vice-President Diosdado Cabello was then sworn in as president, but said he was simply waiting to return the country to his ally, Mr Chavez.

Thousands of supporters sang the national anthem and set off fireworks, while a military band played.

"Today we are celebrating a new democracy," said one man who grabbed a microphone to greet Mr Chavez.

An unemployed man, wearing a tattered shirt, said: "The people want him back. He works for the poor."

Nation divided

The BBC's Nick Miles in Caracas says Mr Chavez has come back to a deeply divided country.

Having risen from his own political ashes, he will have to practise political flexibility if he is to unite Venezuelan society and re-establish international confidence.

Mr Chavez fell from power early on Friday after military leaders blamed him for the deaths of at least 13 people in violent anti-government protests in the capital.