Food and Events

But the foreign ministry said yesterday that the measures had been "neither effective nor sufficient" and must be strengthened.Spanish regional authorities slapped what they described as "very severe controls" on the border with Gibraltar in response to "the intolerable rebirth of the speedboat smugglers". The regional governor admitted that the stringent measures would probably cause considerable inconvenience for visitors to the Rock, but were necessitated by recent events.A British embassy spokeswoman, commenting on the meeting between Mr Brighty and the foreign ministry's head of European affairs, Jose Rodriguez Spiteri, said: "The ambassador received Spain's expressions of displeasure and reiterated HMG's commitment to eradicate drug and tobacco smuggling."The stricken civil guard helicopter was closely pursuing a Gibraltarian speedboat when it fell into the sea near Cape Trafalgar on Wednesday afternoon, killing one of the crew. The incident was described as "very serious" and reignites the long-smouldering row with Britain over drugs being smuggled via Gibraltar from Morocco to Spain. The ambassador, Anthony Brighty, received a formal complaint that Britain was not doing enough to stamp out drug smuggling through Gibraltar, a senior Spanish diplomatic official said. Spain imposed strict border controls and Britain's ambassador in Madrid was summoned to the Spanish foreign ministry for a dressing-down yesterday, after a civil guardsman died in a helicopter crash off the southern coast while in pursuit of a Gibraltar-registered speedboat suspected of drug- running. What is the point of having elections when some organisations cannot do their political work in some areas, and these are vast .. areas?".

The poll was postponed in November because of violence and then put off again in March because of a boundary dispute. "There are still no-go areas where there is no guarantee that free and fair elections can be held," Mr Mandela said."We cannot ignore the fact that so many people have died and the prediction is that more people are going to die as the rhetoric from the political organisations intensifies. Pretoria - President Nelson Mandela yesterday said local- government elections in KwaZulu- Natal might have to be postponed for a second time because of widespread violence and intimidation in the province. He said he would meet the Inkatha Freedom Party leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, in Cape Town today to discuss whether the election should go ahead as scheduled on 29 May, be postponed altogether or be held in stages. Violence between Mr Mandela's African National Congress and Inkatha, which has a majority in KwaZulu-Natal, has raged on in the province despite the relative calm in most of the country since the all-race general election in 1994."There is a high level of deaths in the province," Mr Mandela said after a meeting in Pretoria with Chris Fismer, Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Local Government, and his deputy, Mohammed Valli Moosa.Mr Fismer and Mr Valli Moosa reported to him on a visit they made this week to the province to canvass views on whether the election should go ahead as planned. "Whatever the cost, Liberia and Liberians must not be abandoned to their fate," a Ghanaian official said after a delegation from President Jerry Rawlings held talks with the Nigerian military ruler, General Sani Abacha, in Abuja.General Inienger said Ecomog peace-keepers and other hostages, including scores of Lebanese, were still held by Mr Johnson's backers.. US helicopters have been ferrying foreigners from the US embassy in the district to Freetown or Dakar.

US officials said flights might have to be restricted to night-time because of fear of daytime attack from militia gunners with rocket-propelled grenades. Nearly 400 people have been evacuated since Tuesday and hundreds more are in the embassy.In six years of civil war in Liberia the capital had been relatively safe until clashes erupted nearly a week ago after the coalition government tried to arrest the Krahn tribe militia warlord, Roosevelt Johnson, on murder charges.The fighting is the most serious threat to a 1995 peace accord which was signed in Nigeria last August.Nigeria and Ghana, which have the largest contingents of troops in the Ecomog force, which was sent to Liberia in 1990, held urgent consultations on Wednesday and pledged their commitment to the regional peace-keeping effort. should try and secure the Mamba Point area as a priority," he said, referring to the district where the UNDP offices, other international agencies, most embassies and diplomatic residences are. A witness said looters, who have emptied shops of goods, were attacking homes and seizing private cars.General John Inienger, commander of the Ecomog African peace-keeping force, said his men were trying to take key districts of the capital to prevent carnage spreading. Units had intercepted guerrillas trying to infiltrate the capital from western Liberia to back colleagues locked in fighting A number of guerrillas died in the clash "We ... Looters attacked the Lebanese school next to the US embassy in the Mamba Point district and used vehicles from the UN military observer mission to carry off their spoils. They also invaded UN Development Programme offices. The United States diverted a warship from the Adriatic to help evacuate foreigners.

Residents confined to their homes since fighting erupted on Saturday said food and water were running short. Monrovia - Gangs of Liberian militiamen blasted their way through gates with rocket-propelled grenades and carried off their spoils in United Nations vehicles as fighting here turned into a frenzy of looting yesterday. Hizbollah fires Katyusha rockets into northern Israel; no casualties.8 April - Bomb blast kills Lebanese boy and wounds three people in a guerrilla-held south Lebanon village.9 April - Hizbollah blames Israel for bomb blast and guerrillas fire Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, wounding 36 people.10 April - One Israeli soldier killed, three wounded in Hizbollah shelling of their outpost in zone.. One Hizbollah guerrilla killed.10 March - One Israeli soldier killed and four wounded in Hizbollah bomb attack in occupation zone.14 March - Five Israeli soldiers wounded in Hizbollah raid.20 March - Hizbollah suicide bomber kills one Israeli soldier in attack near border with Israel.30 March - Israelis shell south Lebanon villages killing two civilians. Rumours in Beirut spoke of a planned Israeli commando raid on the capital.Crisis countdown11 April - Israeli helicopter gunships blasted Hizbollah guerrilla targets in Beirut's southern suburbs yesterday, the first Israeli raid on the Lebanese capital in nearly 14 years.Following are the main events in the latest round of violence between Lebanon's pro-Iranian Hizbollah (Party of God) and Israeli forces.4 March - Hizbollah guerrillas kill four Israeli soldiers in Israel's south Lebanon occupation zone. But the militia's determination to go on fighting the Israelis inside Lebanon means the Israelis are likely to face retaliation in response to their own retaliation, a cycle of mutual revenge which, as Mr Hariri said, can become self-generating.Hizbollah and security sources in southern Lebanon suggested last night that further Katyusha attacks would be made against Israel in response to today's raids.