Britain's Princess Anne has revealed angry resentment that her charity work has been overshadowed by the late Diana, Princess of Wales. In an interview during a 10-day tour of East Africa, Anne was said to have ``almost erupted'' when BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond commented that many people would welcome her campaigning for AIDS victims, as Diana had done. According to The Express newspaper, a witness to the interview in Nairobi said Princess Anne retorted that she took a ``much broader approach'' to her work and demanded to know why she was always asked about Diana. ``She was so cross that she interrupted Jennie's next question.'' the source said. ``She said she had been working for charity long before the Princess of Wales came on the scene and had been around far longer.''

After the interview, ``serious discussions'' were said to have taken place between the two women. Bond is reported to have pointed out that she was only repeating comments from members of thepublic.

Ramos-Horta to Mahathir

East Timorese Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta denounced Malaysian authorities for the alleged beating of ousted deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in police custody. In a statement faxed to AFP, the pro-independence leader said Anwar was ``one ofthe most respected Asian leaders. The international community cannot remain indifferent in the face of the repulsive behaviour of the autocratic Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad,'' Ramos-Horta said in the statement from Lisbon. Anwar appeared in court on Tuesday and Wednesday with a black left eye and bruised arm, charging that he was handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten unconscious on the night of his arrest on September 20. Pictures of the badly-bruised Anwar have shocked the world and sparked calls for an investigation by the United States.

Pope's verdict

Pope John Paul II beatifies a controversial cardinal, labelled a martyr by the Vatican for his Opposition to communist rule in Yugoslavia but seen bycritics as a friend of a former fascist regime. The tomb in Zagreb cathedral of Alojzije Stepinac, who died in 1960, was opened during a special mass ahead of the beatification ceremony, to reveal his remains, clothed in a red and white cassock embroidered in gold and wearing a death mask. In declaring Stepinac a martyr last July, the Pope accepted claims by Josip Batelja, the Vatican lawyer in charge of the beatification process, that he had been poisoned by progressive doses of an infusion of oleander. The Pope was scheduled to pray at Stepinac's tomb after his arrival in Zagreb, ahead of the beatification ceremony at the shrine of Marija Bistrica outside the capital.

Anwar's ally

A close ally of detained former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim announced his resignation as head of the youth wing of the dominant ruling party after nine days in police detention. Umno Youth Chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he sent a letter of resignation to Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir on Tuesday, a day before hisrelease. Zahid said he had since sent a second letter confirming his decision to Mahathir, who is President of the United Malays National Organisation. ``The decision to resign is not due to any particular party or Umno leader,'' he told a news conference. ``It is due to the realisation of the importance of party unity and the sacrifice I had to make as leader of the youth wing.'' Zahid was arrested in Kota Kinabalu in the eastern state of Sabah on September 21, a day after police stormed Anwar's home in Kuala Lumpur and detained him following a massive anti-Mahathir rally in the capital.