The week-long pause, however, only intensified the global spotlight focused on the government's treatment of the former number two leader. Malaysia, has accused Gore of meddling in its domestic affairs following a speech he delivered during the summit in which he expressed support for Anwar's political reform movement. A hotline advertised in the government-backed New Straits Times was hooked up over the weekend for callers to register anti-US sentiments.

BEIJING: Some 30,000 people are living outside in cold winter conditions following a series of earthquakes in southwest China, officials said on Sunday. Two earthquakes onThursday in the Ninglang Yi autonomous county in Yunnan province and neighbouring Yanyuan county in Sichuan province killed three people and injured 1,543, at least 211 of them seriously, officials and state media said.

The quakes of magnitude 5 and 6.2 caused 12,370 houses to collapse and damaged another 161,331, the Yunnan civil affairs bureau said. Following the latest quakes, some 30,000 people are living outside in snow, rain and night temperatures as low as zero celsius, the bureau said. ``The situation is extremely serious,'' with winter clothes, food and medicine lacking, it said.

BRUSSELS: British beef, banned for over two years because of fears of `mad cow' disease, could be back on menus around the world early next year after a vote by European Union agriculture ministers here on Monday. At least eight of the 15 EU countries have indicated they will back a proposal from the European Commission to lift the export ban for beef from cattle that have had no exposure to bovine spongiformencephalopathy (BSE), a condition that has been linked to a fatal brain condition in humans, Creutzfeld- Jakob Disease (CJD).

Although a narrow majority would not be enough for the formal decision to be taken at Monday's meeting, it will be sufficient for the commission, the EU's executive arm, to proceed with the lifting of ban on Wednesday.