WHAT HAPPENED ON 15th January 2001?

14th January 2001

SERVICE FOR 14 BLACK VICTIMS OF FIRE

A memorial service is being held for 14 young black people killed when fire swept through a house where they were attending a party 20 years ago. The fire in New Cross south-east London was initially thought to have been a racist arson attack. Now police do not think it was racially motivated. Scotland Yard has offered a #50 000 reward for new information. The memorial service is taking place at St Paul's Church in Deptford.

15th January 2001

IRISH REPUBLICA couple in their 70s

are recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries in an attack at their home in East Wall Dublin. A woman 26 is being quizzed by police. KENYA Four people including a 13-year- old girl who was trying to save her younger brother have drowned in flash floods near Nairobi. The boy was saved. GERMANYA German court has granted tennis star Boris Becker a divorce from his estranged wife Barbara after the couple reached an out-of-court settlement reported to be about £10m.

15th January 2001

EL SALVADOR DAILY ANGRY OVER FAILINGS

One of El Salvador's major newspapers has launched a strong attack on the human failings it says were responsible for a heavy loss of life in the quake. El Diario de Hoy blamed the building industry & the authorities for major shortcomings. It spoke of the "legal and moral disorder" in the country. It accused building companies of "failing to take responsibility for the neighbourhoods they put up". "The appropriate authorities must ban construction on steep slopes " it said.

14th January 2001

POUNDS AND OUNCES GREENCROCER IN COURT

A greengrocer has gone on trial accused of trading in pounds & ounces in the first such case in the UK. Sunderland City Council is prosecuting trader Steven Thoburn for refusing to convert to EU-approved metric measures. The UK Independence Party says the case could decide the future of the nation's "traditional weights & measures". Mr Thoburn 36 of Sunderland denies breaking EU law. His lawyers say he has a legal right to use Imperial measures.

15th January 2001

IRISH REPUBLICA couple in their 70s

are recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries in an attack at their home in East Wall Dublin. A woman 26 is being quizzed by police. KENYA Four people including a 13-year- old girl who was trying to save her younger brother have drowned in flash floods near Nairobi. The boy was saved. GERMANYA German court has granted tennis star Boris Becker a divorce from his estranged wife Barbara after the couple reached an out-of-court settlement reported to be about £10m.

15th January 2001

HOSTEL BLAZE ACCUSED WILL STAND TRIAL

A magistrate in Australia has ordered an unemployed fruit-picker to stand trial for murder over the deaths of 15 backpackers in a hostel blaze. Six Britons died in the fire at the Queensland hostel last June. Robert Long's committal follows two weeks of hearings at which prosecutors outlined their evidence. The prosecution team said it believed the case would get under way in the Brisbane Supreme Court in September.

14th January 2001

BRITON FEARED DEAD IN HELICOPTER CRASH

A British UN worker is said to be among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in Mongolia. The Russian-built Mi-8 plunged to the ground 600 miles west of the capital Ulan Bator & burst into flames. An American & a German UN official two Japanese journalists & four Mongolians including an MP also died the Mongolian foreign ministry reported Some 14 others were injured 10 of them seriously officials & UN staff said.

15th January 2001

IRISH REPUBLICA couple in their 70s

are recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries in an attack at their home in East Wall Dublin. A woman 26 is being quizzed by police. KENYA Four people including a 13-year- old girl who was trying to save her younger brother have drowned in flash floods near Nairobi. The boy was saved. GERMANYA German court has granted tennis star Boris Becker a divorce from his estranged wife Barbara after the couple reached an out-of-court settlement reported to be about £10m.

15th January 2001

FOOD AGENCY SEIZES CONTAMINATED BEEF

Contaminated beef destined for butchers' shops has been confiscated by UK officials carrying out BSE controls. The Food Standards Agency has said its officers impounded 41 000 kilogrammes of German beef at an abattoir in Newry County Down. It acted after spinal cord was discovered in two consignments. The discovery is the first of its kind and the agency says it shows the importance of robust BSE controls.

14th January 2001

MINISTER REJECTS URANIUM CRITICISM

Germany's Rudolf Scharping has defended his country's handling of the depleted uranium ammunition scandal. Germany was the first country to check its troops in Kosovo as soon as it had learnt of the use of the ammunition in the summer of 1999 he said. Scientific & medical tests showed no elevated risk of radiation exposure he insisted in a TV interview. Yet despite referring to a "hysteria syndrome" over the issue he said he wanted the ammunition scrapped.

15th January 2001

IRISH REPUBLICA couple in their 70s

are recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries in an attack at their home in East Wall Dublin. A woman 26 is being quizzed by police. KENYA Four people including a 13-year- old girl who was trying to save her younger brother have drowned in flash floods near Nairobi. The boy was saved. GERMANYA German court has granted tennis star Boris Becker a divorce from his estranged wife Barbara after the couple reached an out-of-court settlement reported to be about £10m.

15th January 2001

INDIA Paramilitary forces in Kashmir say they have foiled a bid by militants to storm the heavily guarded airport at Srinagar. Two militants died & four police were hurt in a gun battle. GERMANY Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has appeared in court as a character witness for a friend Hans Joachim Klein ` a violent political extremist charged with three murders. CZECH REPUBLICOfficials have widened a ban on beef imports to include Italy and Austria following cases of BSE reported in both countries.

14th January 2001

TESTS DUE ON CERVICAL CANCER VACCINE

A vaccine aimed at preventing women from developing cervical cancer is about to undergo trials. Researchers at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester have recruited the first two women who will take part in the study. The vaccine is designed to boost immune systems to fight the human papilloma virus ` which causes almost all cases. The Cancer Research Campaign estimates that there are 1 300 deaths from cervical cancer in the UK every year.

15th January 2001

IRISH REPUBLICA couple in their 70s

are recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries in an attack at their home in East Wall Dublin. A woman 26 is being quizzed by police. KENYA Four people including a 13-year- old girl who was trying to save her younger brother have drowned in flash floods near Nairobi. The boy was saved. GERMANYA German court has granted tennis star Boris Becker a divorce from his estranged wife Barbara after the couple reached an out-of-court settlement reported to be about £10m.

15th January 2001

MANAGEMENT "TO BLAME FOR CHAPEL BODIES"

Health Secretary Alan Milburn has said the storing of bodies in a hospital's Chapel of Rest was not down to a lack of funding or space at the hospital. The bodies were placed in the Bedford Hospital chapel following a fault with a new mortuary's doors he told MPs. He said the decision was wrong & blamed the hospital's management for not dealing with the fault immediately. The situation was not a reflection of a wider problem in the NHS he added.

14th January 2001

MORE TRAVELLERS FLY DURING RAIL CHAOS

A rise in domestic flights of more than 14% in December was partly due to the recent chaos on the rail network according to airport operator BAA. Passengers at its seven UK airports rose to 8.8m a rise of 11.2% compared to the corresponding period in 1999. About 150 000 more passenger trips than normal were recorded during the month. But BAA said that figures in December 1999 were hit by people not travelling due to Millennium date change fears.

15th January 2001

IRISH REPUBLICA couple in their 70s

are recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries in an attack at their home in East Wall Dublin. A woman 26 is being quizzed by police. KENYA Four people including a 13-year- old girl who was trying to save her younger brother have drowned in flash floods near Nairobi. The boy was saved. GERMANYA German court has granted tennis star Boris Becker a divorce from his estranged wife Barbara after the couple reached an out-of-court settlement reported to be about £10m.

15th January 2001

DEPLETED URANIUM WARNING ISSUED IN 1991

The Government was warned 10 years ago that depleted uranium shells used in the Gulf War could be a health risk to UK troops it has been disclosed. The dangers were highlighted in a 1991 UK Atomic Energy Authority report. The study said that the total amount of DU used by the UK & US in the war could theoretically kill 500 000 people Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has said depleted uranium ammunition will remain available for use by British tanks.

14th January 2001

POLICE INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE DRUGS DEATH

Police are investigating the death of a young person at a school in Ayrshire which is thought to be drugs-related. The teenager thought to be a boy attended the Kerelaw Residential School He was taken to hospital by ambulance in the early hours of this morning but later died. He had just returned from weekend leave. Strathclyde police say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the death. A post-mortem is expected to be carried out today.

15th January 2001

IRISH REPUBLICA couple in their 70s

are recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries in an attack at their home in East Wall Dublin. A woman 26 is being quizzed by police. KENYA Four people including a 13-year- old girl who was trying to save her younger brother have drowned in flash floods near Nairobi. The boy was saved. GERMANYA German court has granted tennis star Boris Becker a divorce from his estranged wife Barbara after the couple reached an out-of-court settlement reported to be about £10m.

15th January 2001

FRANCEA British lorry driver is being

held in jail in Normandy after police discovered 33 Kurds hiding in his vehicle. A formal inquiry is under way. CHINA Opera stars Luciano Pavarotti Placido Domingo & Jose Carreras ` the Three Tenors ` are to perform in Beijing's Forbidden City on June 23 to mark China's International Olympic Day.