WHAT HAPPENED ON 1st January 2001?

15th December 2000

EIGHT DIE 130 HURT IN DUTCH CAFE FIRE

At least eight people were killed & about 30 suffered serious burns in a fire as youngsters celebrated the New Year in a cafe in The Netherlands. About 130 people were injured & it is feared the death toll could rise. Witnesses reported a large explosion possibly triggered by fireworks. Officials say all but one of the emergency exits at the cafe in Volendam had been blocked. Partygoers jumped from windows to escape.

1st January 2001

BRITONS LANGUISHING IN FOREIGN PRISONS

More than 2 500 Britons are starting the New Year languishing in foreign jails across the world it has emerged. Many have been convicted on falsified evidence or without any real evidence at all according to the organisation Fair Trials Abroad. Four are awaiting death sentences while others are desperately ill they claim. The Foreign Office said they were liaising with the organisation in looking at a number of the cases.

1st January 2001

COURT

A man accused of killing Julie- Ann Osborne in Belfast has been remanded in custody by city magistrates Andrew Robinson 22 is due to appear in court again on January 8. DEATHA man is being questioned over the death of a 33-year-old man at a New Year's Eve party in the Harcliffe area of Bristol. A post mortem examination will be held later.

15th December 2000

UK TOURIST MISSING ON MADEIRA ISLAND

Portuguese police are searching for a British tourist reported missing on the Atlantic island of Madeira. The visitor described as a man of about 50 failed to return on Sunday to a hotel in which he had been staying. He was due to return to the UK today. Police are concentrating their search in the mountains in the north of the island. The Foreign Office said the British Consul had been informed.

1st January 2001

BRITONS LANGUISHING IN FOREIGN PRISONS

More than 2 500 Britons are starting the New Year languishing in foreign jails across the world it has emerged. Many have been convicted on falsified evidence or without any real evidence at all according to the organisation Fair Trials Abroad. Four are awaiting death sentences while others are desperately ill they claim. The Foreign Office said they were liaising with the organisation in looking at a number of the cases.

1st January 2001

INDONESIA GIVES HOME RULE TO PROVINCES

The Indonesian government is introducing self-rule for its 26 provinces in a move which it hopes will counteract separatist disturbances. The move ` introduced with the minimum of ceremony ` has worried overseas investors & lenders who fear local rulers will overtax foreign firms. President Wahid's government admits the change is being introduced with haste. But "we will be able to do repairs along the way " a top official has said

15th December 2000

"HAMLET-STYLE" GRAVE ROBBERS IMPRISONED

Three people from Bristol have been found guilty of breaking into a crypt and stealing 150-year-old bones. Bristol Crown Court heard how discarded photographs led to their convictions. They showed them at the run-down Arnos Vale Cemetery with one of the group posing "Hamlet-style" with a skull. Maxine Burridge 38 and Simon Gibson 21 were jailed for 12 & 18 months. A 17-year-old youth received a detention and training order for 10 months.

1st January 2001

BRITONS LANGUISHING IN FOREIGN PRISONS

More than 2 500 Britons are starting the New Year languishing in foreign jails across the world it has emerged. Many have been convicted on falsified evidence or without any real evidence at all according to the organisation Fair Trials Abroad. Four are awaiting death sentences while others are desperately ill they claim. The Foreign Office said they were liaising with the organisation in looking at a number of the cases.

1st January 2001

HANGED Michael Lewis 41 has been found hanged in his cell at Bristol Prison where he was awaiting trial on charges of rape indecent assault & drugs-related offences. CLUB Police investigating allegations that a woman was raped after leaving a club in Erith Kent have arrested four 17-year-olds who voluntarily attended a police station. BLAZE Twenty acute psychiatric patients were moved to safety after fire broke out in a bedroom at Highbury Hospital in Nottingham. No one was injured.

15th December 2000

NEW YEAR RUNG IN ACROSS THE WORLD

As New Year revellers packed London's Trafalgar Square & the centre of Edinburgh in their thousands the French turned the Eiffel Tower blue. In New York's Times Square 500 000 saw boxer Muhammad Ali open festivities & in Beijing a laser show painted pictures of China's history in the sky. Japan's Buddhist temple bells chimed in time with the sound of ships' horns. In Red Square Russians for the first time sang the new national anthem.

1st January 2001

BRITONS LANGUISHING IN FOREIGN PRISONS

More than 2 500 Britons are starting the New Year languishing in foreign jails across the world it has emerged. Many have been convicted on falsified evidence or without any real evidence at all according to the organisation Fair Trials Abroad. Four are awaiting death sentences while others are desperately ill they claim. The Foreign Office said they were liaising with the organisation in looking at a number of the cases.

1st January 2001

DISEASED LUNG ON CANADA CIGARETTE PACKS

The world's hardest-hitting health warnings on cigarette packets have come into effect in Canada. The warnings which have to cover half the packet include colour photographs of internal organs damaged by smoking. The pictures show a lung with cancer a diseased heart & a brain that has suffered a stroke. Cigarette manufacturers had mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge to have the warnings banned.