David Schepp  BBC News Online's North America Business Reporter

The World Bank in a new study has warned many developing countries are at risk of not achieving poverty goals established by the United Nations (UN).

UN Millennium Development Goals

Halve poverty and hunger by 2015  Universal primary education  Promote gender equality  Reduce child mortality  Improve maternal health  Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases  Ensure environmental sustainability  Develop a global partnership for development

In response, the World Bank urged both rich and poor nations to recommit themselves to halving the number of people living in poverty, defined as living on less than $1 a day.

"The study is not a final verdict on how countries will perform," said Shanta Devarajan, a World Bank economist. "But it is a warning that many are not on track to reach many of the goals."

Mr Devarajan and other World Bank officials spoke at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank currently underway in Washington.

Aside from reducing the numbers of poor, the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) seek to reduce the child mortality rate, child-birth related deaths among women and the spread of HIV/Aids, among other things.

More trade

In releasing the latest study, the World Bank said while there had been progress in reducing poverty it had been uneven, leaving too many regions and countries behind.

One example is sub-Saharan Africa, where life expectancy has fallen to 47 years from 50 since 1990 due in large part to HIV/Aids, which has boosted the infant-mortality rate. 

Four African nations still have life expectancies of only about 30 years.

Still, the World Bank said progress could be made through better governmental policies within countries and greater liberalisation of trade between nations.

Wolfensohn has called for a crackdown on poverty

"The past decade has been a good one for opening up markets to goods from poor countries and a bad one for increasing foreign-aid flows," said Nicholas Stern, World Bank chief economist.

Impeding development

Despite the ominous predictions, World Bank officials speaking to the press on Saturday expressed optimism that much can be done to alleviate poverty.

"Monterrey showed that we have begun to turn the corner on aid," Mr Stern said, referring to last month's UN conference in Mexico.

At the summit, world leaders called for increased development as a way to reduce poverty. It has been the theme IMF and World Bank officials have been promoting in recent weeks and months.

IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler has called "unconscionable" the subsidies rich nations, such as the US, Japan and those of Europe, give to their farmers and manufacturers.

Other officials, including finance ministers from several African nations speaking on Saturday, said tariffs imposed by developed nations on commodities and goods from poor ones impede development.

Assessing the world

In its report, World Development Indicators 2002, the World Bank noted nations of the Pacific Rim are likely to reach the UN's Millennium Goals.

It warned, however, that countries in the Middle East and North Africa have not been successful in achieving sustained growth in the past decade.

Improvement in health care also remains an issue.

In South Asia, which includes populous India, the World Bank noted that while much progress had been made, malnutrition still remains a serious problem.

Nearly half of all children under the age of five in the region are undernourished, the report said.

Problems also exist in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where infant deaths and poverty are on the rise and school completion rates have fallen.

Former Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu has been detained by police over what they say is illegal political activity.

They plan to charge Mr Bizimungu, an ethnic Hutu, with threatening state security. 

He will be charged under Article 166 of the penal code concerning breach of security and spreading harmful propaganda against the state

Police spokesman Tony Kuramba

Mr Bizimungu resigned as president two years ago after falling out with the Tutsi-dominated government.

He formed an opposition party last year, which was promptly banned by the authorities.

Police also detained a former minister, Charles Ntakirutinka, who is close to Mr Bizimungu.

Symbol of reconciliation

The two men were held after their homes were raided on Friday and various documents seized. 

"They're both helping police with enquiries concerning the illegal political activity they've been carrying out clandestinely," police spokesman Tony Kuramba told Reuters news agency.

Rwanda's military strongman Paul Kagame became president after Mr Bizimungu resigned

He said they would be charged under Article 166 of the penal code "concerning breach of security and spreading harmful propaganda against the state".

According to Rwandan state radio, if the charges are confirmed the former president will be liable to a prison sentence of between two and 10 years. 

Pasteur Bizimungu is regarded by many as a symbol of reconciliation between Tutsis and Hutus after the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. 

However, he has fallen foul of the authorities a number of times since an attempt to found an opposition party last June which was immediately declared illegal.

Public warnings

Mr Bizimungu, who is in his 50s, was accused of breaching legislation on party politics and preaching ethnic hatred. 

He was briefly placed under house arrest and deprived of his privileges as a former head of state.

He had been publicly warned a number of times by President Paul Kagame that he should not indulge in divisive politics.

Correspondents say that before his resignation in March 2000, he had become increasingly unhappy with the direction the government was taking, and the suppression of internal dissent. 

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the first stage of Israel's offensive in the West Bank is over, but vowed that the campaign against militants would continue.

Mr Sharon's comments came hours after Israeli tanks and troops pulled out of the city of Nablus and most of Ramallah. They have now redeployed around West Bank cities.

We have achieved very profound results but the struggle against terrorism continues

Ariel Sharon

Israel has said troops will continue to surround Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem until wanted militants are handed over.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed the Israeli withdrawals but called for Israel to give Mr Arafat more access to the outside world.

He said Israel should allow Mr Arafat to exercise his authority and to try to persuade the Palestinian people on to a peaceful path towards a state of their own. 

Mr Powell said he hoped to return to the Middle East in the near future. 

Speaking to reporters, Mr Sharon said: "We have finished this stage of the operation called Defensive Shield," saying Israel had achieved "very profound results".

He said that "the struggle against terrorism continues," adding "this time, it will work according to a different method".

The operation started on 29 March after a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks killed and wounded scores of Israelis.

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It says it will continue to surround Mr Arafat's compound until he hands over three people suspected of assassinating Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi and a finance official accused of arms smuggling. 

Mr Arafat has offered to put the three suspected assassins on trial, but not extradite them.

Israeli security officials were reported to be considering storming the compound to seize the wanted Palestinians.

According to reports from Israel, the government is considering cutting contact with UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen. 

UN mission

Israel was stung by Mr Roed-Larsen's comments after a visit to Jenin refugee camp, when he said it was "morally repugnant" that Israel had refused to let humanitarian workers into the camp for 11 days after fighting ended. 

Israel has said it will cooperate with a UN fact-finding mission to determine what happened in the fighting.

But the government has reportedly said three senior UN officials should not be part of the team: Mr Roed-Larsen, the head of the UN relief works agency in Jerusalem, Peter Hanssen, and the UN human rights chief Mary Robinson.

The Palestinians have accused Israel of committing a massacre - an allegation strongly denied by Israel, which insists the dead were mainly armed fighters.

Palestinians arrested

On Sunday, the Israeli army arrested a military official of Mr Arafat's Fatah group in a sweep for militants in Kalandia refugee camp on the West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

Israel has continued rounding up Palestinian militants

Around 15 other Palestinians were also reported to have been arrested in the camp.

US President George W Bush has called on Israeli and Arab leaders to make "hard choices" to end their conflict.

In his weekly radio address to the nation, President Bush said Israel must continue pulling its forces out of Palestinian areas, but also said the Palestinian Authority must "act on its words of condemnation against terror".

The only long-term solution was for the sides to live side by side in security and peace, he said.

Bethlehem 'blackmail'

In his Sunday sermon, the Pope said there had been "blackmail and an intolerable exchange of accusations" at the Church of the Nativity.

He called on the international community to stop a "spiral of hatred and violence" in the Holy Land.

Israel has besieged the church since 2 April, demanding the surrender of about 35 armed fighters hiding inside among some 240 Palestinians.

Five Palestinians managed to break out of the Church late on Sunday but they are not thought to be fighters wanted by the Israelis.

Palestinians inside the church say they have run out of food and face starvation.

 

David Schepp  BBC News Online North America business reporter

Finance ministers from the world's richest nations have released a plan to prevent economic crises, such as the one currently being experienced in Argentina.

The world economy has just come through a very uncertain period

Paul Martin, Canadian finance minister

Officials from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations also agreed to help one another in cutting off financing to terrorist groups around the globe.

The G7, comprised of the United States, Canada, Italy, Britain, France, Germany and Japan, said monetary policies implemented in the wake of 11 September have helped promote economic recovery following last year's slowdown.

Nevertheless, the finance ministers warned that risks to the recovery remain, including a sharp rise in oil prices in recent weeks.

Argentine crisis

The G7 laid out a new framework for maintaining economic stability and preventing future crises that it intends to review in the coming months.

The G7 says its plan could prevent crises like the one in Argentina

The group announced an action plan it said would improve stability, growth, and potential living standards in developing countries.

G7 officials also expressed concern over the current economic crisis in Argentina and said they support the IMF and the work it is doing with the South American nation.

Those efforts include upgrading bankruptcy and other laws and other reforms, which the G7 said were needed in order to raise the living standards for Argentines.

Middle East conflict

Economic recovery from the slowdown is underway, the G7 noted, crediting in part aggressive monetary policies implemented after 11 September.

"The world economy has just come through a very uncertain period," Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin said in a written statement. "While some of the risks have abated, other risks remain."

Unrest in the Middle East has sent oil prices higher

Among those is the unrest in the Middle East, which has sent oil prices higher in recent weeks.

World Bank and IMF officials this weekend also have expressed caution about spiking costs for oil but cautioned oil prices would have to accelerate quickly and substantially before having a major impact on the world economy.

For their part, the G7 warned oil-price shocks could stunt the economic recovery it says is progressing in much of the world.

The G7 ministers met on Friday in advance of the weekend's meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

The meetings have been characterised by relative calm than those of the recent past. Protesters so far have been less inclined to resort to the violence and destruction witnessed as recently as November.

Links to terrorism

At the conclusion of their meeting on Saturday, the G7 issued a communique in which they credited international cooperation for helping to combat funding for terrorist groups.

In a separate statement, US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said, "the unity with which the international community has tackled that goal in the intervening months in heartening."

Brown: The UK is determined to play its part

To date, about $100m (£70m) has been seized by law-enforcement authorities the world over, affecting about 200 people or organisations US officials say have links to terrorism.

On Saturday, the G7 agreed to jointly designate a list of terrorists and freeze assets in member countries to assist in the fight against terrorist financing.

"Because terrorists intended to bring the world's financial system to a halt," said UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, "we must continue to show that we will not succumb or surrender to their threats."

Argentina's entire financial system could collapse if the run on its banks continues, President Eduardo Duhalde has warned.

People have to be prepared to overcome the crisis that is affecting the whole country

President Duhalde

His comments come a day after all foreign exchange and banking transactions were halted indefinitely. 

Banks have come under renewed pressure because of increasing cash withdrawals after courts overturned restrictions on access to savings. 

Limits were first imposed last year as Argentina sought to tackle an economic crisis which began in earnest after it defaulted on part of its massive foreign debt.

A plan to turn all deposits into government bonds is proving unpopular.

Serious concern about the situation has been expressed by leading industrialised nations meeting in Washington.

But no new agreement was reached in talks between the IMF and Argentine Finance Minister, Jorge Remes Lenicov, although the IMF is sending out a new mission to negotiate the terms of financial aid. 

Spiral of withdrawals

In his weekly national radio address on Saturday, President Duhalde said a solution to the problem of capital outflows was urgently needed and that his advisers were working on alternatives. 

"We run the risk that the system will explode if the judges continue to authorise people to withdraw their money," he said.

On Friday alone, account holders withdrew $200m dollars from banks in Argentina, according to one newspaper estimate. 

No deals in Washington for Argentine Finance Minister Lenicov, left

Huge crowds gathered outside banks as people tried to cash their salary cheques and get money from automated teller machines.

The Argentine authorities had limited withdrawals to $500 a month in December, but individual account holders gained access to their savings after mounting legal challenges.

Government figures say about $70m were withdrawn by individual savers armed with court orders in the first 10 days of April.

The government is hoping to pass a bill that would convert most depositors' savings into 10-year bonds, making it harder to legally overturn limits on withdrawals.

Key reforms

In Washington, IMF chief Horst Koehler said on Saturday he expected a team to go to Buenos Aires "as soon as possible, the middle of May".

But he maintained that the Argentine Government still needed to adopt key reforms to qualify for a resumption of aid .

BBC economic correspondent Andrew Walker says there are still differences between the two sides over how much Argentina should reduce the deficit in the government finances, and that Mr Koehler wants credible reassurances about the control of spending by provincial governments.

Exit polls indicate that Germany's ruling Social Democrats have suffered a humiliating defeat in the state of Saxony-Anhalt five months before national elections.

The opposition Christian Democrats have made huge gains, winning more than 35% of the vote, the polls suggest, while second place has gone to the ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).

BBC Berlin correspondent Rob Broomby says the result is a huge boost for the conservative challenger to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber.

He says the Christian Democrats and pro-business Free Democrats will have a clear majority in the state, if the polls are confirmed.

This would mean the Social Democrat Party (SPD) would become a minority in the upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat.

Untypical state

The polls, carried on German television, give the Christian Democrats between 36.5% and 37.5% of the vote, the PDS between 20.5% and 21%, and the SPD between 18.5% and 20%.

Saxony-Anhalt facts

Known as Germany's "poor house"  Unemployment double national average  Lowest per capita income of any German state  Highest per capita public debt  2.1 million voters

This would represent a gain of roughly 15% for the Christian Democrats compared with the 1998 election, and an equivalent loss for the SPD.

The Saxony-Anhalt vote is the last key test of support for the main parties ahead of the 22 September vote.

However, correspondents say it is not typical.

Unemployment at 20% is the highest in Germany, while per capita income is the lowest.

Voting patterns are also much more volatile in the former Communist East, where the established parties lack deep roots.

The latest national opinion polls suggest that the SPD is only 2% behind the Christian Democrats.

Social Democrats blamed their "extremely bad result" in the state on the low turnout, which fell to 55% from 71.5% in 1998.

Unemployment woes

Mr Schroeder's failure to meet an election pledge to get unemployment below 3.5 million is seen as one reason why the SPD has plummeted in the polls by 10% in Saxony-Anhalt.

Stoiber says the vote is a test of SPD policy on jobs

Mr Stoiber said in an interview in the Die Welt daily on Saturday, that Mr Schroeder "must be prepared to accept that the (Saxony-Anhalt) election will also be considered a barometer for his job-market and economic policies".

The Christian Democrat leader in the state, Wolfgang Boehmer, promised economic improvements that would stem the exodus of workers looking for jobs in other parts of the country.

For the past eight years a minority administration in Saxony-Anhalt led by SPD Prime Minister Reinhard Hoeppner has enjoyed unofficial backing from the PDS.

The pro-business Free Democrats won between 13% and 14% of the vote, according to the exit polls, up roughly 10% on 1998.

An anti-crime party founded by the right-wing former Hamburg judge, Ronald Schill, came fifth, the polls say.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has acknowledged defeat in a general election which looks set to return the centre-left to power. 

According to preliminary unofficial results, the ruling conservative Fidesz party won close to 49% of the vote.

We were many but we were not enough

Prime Minister Viktor Orban

But since Fidesz has no coalition partners in the new parliament, this is not enough to form a majority government. 

Instead, the opposition Socialists - who won 46% - are expected to form a coalition government with their allies.

Since the first round - when they took a surprise lead - the Socialists have struck an election pact with the small centre-left Liberal Alliance of Free Democrats.

The turnout on Sunday was slightly higher than the record 71% in the first round two weeks ago. 

Congratulations

"We were many but we were not enough", Mr Orban told supporters at Fidesz party headquarters.

Unofficial results

Socialists 178 seats  Free Democrats 19 seats  Fidesz 188 seats

He said he had called the Socialist leader Peter Medgyessy to congratulate him on his victory.

Mr Medgyessy said talks would start on Monday on forming a coalition.

Fidesz had adopted the unusual strategy of calling its supporters on to the streets in a show of strength.

Turnout was slightly higher than in the first round

The Socialists and Liberals responded by holding smaller discussion meetings in cafes and public parks. 

"We are the quiet majority, we are the quiet strength," Mr Medgyessy told his last campaign meeting on Friday. 

Election pledges

While both parties have promised tax cuts and strong economic growth, the Socialist Party is also offering a 50% pay rise for health and education sector workers within the first 100 days.

It has also pledged to mend ties with central European neighbours irritated by Mr Orban's nationalist rhetoric.

Mr Orban, for his part, pledged full employment and a 100% increase in average wages within four years if his party was re-elected.

The second round of the election was a run-off to decide seats where there was no clear winner on 7 April.

In the first round, Fidesz won 87 of the 386 parliamentary seats, while the Socialists won 94 and the Liberals won four.

 

By Alastair Leithead  BBC correspondent in Antananarivo

Madagascar's new peace agreement aimed at settling the four-month-long political crisis is "very fragile", according to the Organisation of African Unity, which helped to broker the deal.

The OAU's Secretary General, Amara Essy, is reportedly sending an envoy to help oversee the Dakar accord which proposes a referendum and a transitional government if a recount of the disputed December presidential elections is inconclusive.

Mr Ratsiraka's supporters are continuing to cut off the capital

Already there are disagreements in Madagascar over the detail of the plan and as yet there is no sign of any of the promises being turned into practical action.

It will come as little surprise to the Malagasy people that the deal hailed as bringing a solution to their country's crisis is considered fragile by one of the key men involved in its conception.

Although their promises are full of compromise and concession from both sides, there is still no detail as to how they will be implemented in the country.

Last card

The key concern is the blockade, manned by supporters of the incumbent President, Didier Ratsiraka, which has cut off the capital Antananarivo from the main port and oil refinery for months now, crippling the economy and isolating the city.

The deal that both presidents signed states that blockades must be lifted.

But there is no sign of this happening, and there is speculation that defences are being reinforced rather than being reduced.

Self-declared President Marc Ravalomanana says he is confident the routes will be opened up again soon.

But few are optimistic, as the blockade is seen as the last card his rival Mr Ratsiraka has left to play in a crisis increasingly going against him.

According to the OAU, neither of the two parties was fully satisfied with the agreement signed in Senegal, and there is even confusion over who is in charge of the country in the period leading up to a recount.

At least 14 people have been killed in two explosions in the southern Philippines city of General Santos. 

A woman who lost two children in the blast is comforted

Over 40 more were injured by the blasts, which occured within minutes of each other. 

The police linked the blasts to an obscure group called the Indigenous People's Federal Army, which campaign for a federal state for tribal groups. 

But a man linked to the Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebel group telephoned a radio station and said: "We did it".

The BBC's Manila correspondent says that local gangsters could also be among the possible culprits. 

The first blast occurred at about 1500 (0700 GMT) on Sunday, outside the Fitmark Department Store, where a bomb had been left in a motorised tricycle.

Police said that all the injuries resulted from this first explosion. 

Minutes later, the second bomb went off in a residential area, when a device was thrown from a moving car, but no casualties were reported. 

Many of those killed or injured were street traders.

Nineteen are reported to be seriously wounded. 

There were also reports of a third explosion at the city's bus station. 

Police said they had received a phone call warning that 18 devices had been planted in the city. 

Police suspicions

 A man identifying himself as Abu Muslim Al-Ghazi telephoned a local radio station to claim responsibility for the blasts on behalf of Abu Sayyaf.

US soldiers are deploying to help the Philippines fight against extremists

But a spokesman for the Mayor Pedro Acharaon said Mr al-Ghazi was merely a member of a group of extortionists. 

Local police said they suspected a tribal rights group. 

"We have been receiving intelligence reports and threats of attacks from a group called the Federal Army," Chief Superindendent Bartolome Baluyot said.

The Indigenous People's Federal Army has claimed responsibility for planting bombs in the capital Manila. 

The Manila bombs were not intended to explode, but local media reports quoted an alleged spokesman for the group as saying that the next bombs would do so. 

Muslim link

 The government has been fighting Muslim extremists in the southern Philippines, and US troops are training local soldiers on the island on Basilan, about 350 km (215 miles) west of General Santos.

Rohman Al-Ghozi: Link to General Santos arms cache

The city of 800,000 people is mainly Christian. 

On Thursday, an Indonesian man Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi pleaded guilty to explosives possession after providing information that led police to a cache of a ton of explosives in General Santos. 

In January, police arrested three Filipinos in town on suspicion of links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Correspondents say it is possible that the blasts are linked to the sentencing of Al-Ghozi to a 12-year prison term. 

Around 250 Palestinians besieged in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity say they have run out of food after nearly three weeks surrounded by Israeli forces.

"There is no food left in the church now for the Palestinians or the monks and nuns," said Franciscan priest Reverend Ibrahim Faltas.

The tight blockade on Bethlehem will continue, Israel says
	Compound covers 12,000 square metres Originally erected in the 4th century, but destroyed  Current church built in 6th century Star marks Jesus Christ's birthplace See also: Church with a turbulent history

Some of those inside the 1,700-year-old holy site are reported to be considering suicide as conditions inside deteriorate.

In his Sunday sermon, Pope John Paul II said events at the church had been characterised by "clashes, blackmail and an intolerable exchange of accusations".

Palestinians in the church and negotiators trying to end the stand-off say there is no running water, intermittent electricity and a body decaying in a cave below the church, traditionally held to mark the birthplace of Jesus Christ. 

Disagreements were also reported on Saturday between those barricaded inside the church, who include civilians, around 40 priests and nuns, and 30 Palestinians who the Israeli army says are wanted militants from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. 

A Palestinian policeman inside the church said soldiers had been blocking supplies of food and medical supplies to the church complex. 

"We were living on rice and spaghetti and now it's almost gone. There's no salt. We're mostly on water," he told Reuters news agency by mobile telephone on Saturday. 

An Israeli military spokesman told Reuters the army was continuing to give food to Red Cross workers, who were taking it into the church. 

'Troops boost'

But those inside the church said the army had dropped leaflets over the wall in plastic bottles which read: "We know you are without food". 

"Think well and decide about your life," they said the Arabic language leaflets, signed by the Israeli Defence Force leadership, said.

A policeman inside the church told Reuters the Israelis had been boosting the number of troops ringing the church. 

But the Israelis denied stepping up their operations, which have involved blasting the building with ear-splitting screeches, flares and smoke bombs and firing at the church bell.

Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser said earlier high-level talks involving European, US and Vatican officials on ending the stand-off at one of Christianity's holiest sites were going on.

On Saturday, Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser told Reuters that high level negotiations involving European, US and Vatican officials were continuing on Saturday.

But the BBC's Jonny Dymond in Bethlehem says no progress has been made.