Rice in the Middle East...and other stories

The BBC's spinning headline on BBC World's news report this morning was "Rice in the Middle East", either there had been a food shipment that had finally been delivered or the Warrior Princess was on her first ME errand. It seems to be the latter. I am not a great supporter of Bush and his cronies but I hope that between Rice's direct line to Bush (which Powell was so sadly lacking) and the installation of Abu Mazen, there is a glimmer of possible hope (note - I am not being too optimistic).

I see that Rice is not moving on to Sharm El-Sheikh for the summit - probably best, firstly it will let the leaders involved thrash it out as only they know best and secondly because if Ms Rice were to step foot in that lovely desert enclave she may decide that this is indeed "Heaven on Earth", particularly were she to stay at the Four Seasons.

Going back to the BBC...has anyone else noticed that their trailer for the programme "Reporters" can be a little disconcerting if you are listening but not watching (i.e. making a cup of tea away from the TV). The line that bothers me goes something like this......"Here are the Israeli observation posts across this vast region of Sudan" ; obviously if you are watching it you can see the change in scenery and even change in Male reporter.....if you are out of the room........I just was not aware that Israel had also taken over parts of Sudan - I guess given their past expansion plans - anything is possible.