At a glance

THE UNITED NATIONS: The UN launched a website on Friday, saying it hoped big business and labour would use it to exchange conflicting view...

THE UNITED NATIONS: The UN launched a website on Friday, saying it hoped big business and labour would use it to exchange conflicting views on problems at the heart of globalisation. 8220;The main purpose of the website is promote universal values8221; on human rights, labour laws and the environment, said Georg Kell, a senior adviser on economics to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

8220;We have lined up major corporations, business associations, labour and major NGOs and they are presenting partly conflicting views, which is the basis of dialogue,8221; Kell told a news conference held to launch the site. The site, unglobalcompact.org, was unveiled simultaneously in New York and at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Annan called on January 31 last year for a Global Compact with big business.

CUBA: Eclipsed by the heated battle over Elian Gonzalez, another international custody dispute is brewing in this Cuban town east of Havana. Spawned by the same shipwreck that thrust thesix-year-old Cuban boy into the thick of diplomatic intrigue, this drama involves a five-year-old girl and her mother, who went to the United States a little over two months ago.

8220;As you can imagine, she misses her very much,8221; said Elsa Alfonso of her granddaughter, Stefani Herrera, a small girl who initially set out for the United States on the same boat as Elian. The boat with Elian, Stefani and about a dozen other people on board quietly sailed from a Cardenas beach on November 21. But the vessel suffered mechanical problems, and had to return for repairs that same day. It set out for Florida again on November 22, but this time, Stefani was not among the passengers.

ENGLAND: A man with a sword on Friday hacked to death the assistant of a British member of Parliament and injured the MP, the police said. A man armed with a Samurai sword attacked the pair in the constituency office of Nigel Jones, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, according to witnesses in the western town. Police said a49-year-old man had been arrested near the scene on suspicion of murder. Jones, 51, was hospitalised with minor wounds to one arm, a party spokesman said. The father-of-three was expected to remain in hospital overnight. The dead man was named by neighbours as Andrew Pennington, a local councillor. He had been working alongside Jones in the office.

8220;We are treating it as a murder inquiry,8221; Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Murock said. Witnesses said they saw a tall man brandishing a Samurai sword going into Jones8217;s office. One described how he appeared to go 8220;crazy8221;. At a news conference, Detective Chief Constable Tim Brain confirmed Jones had been preparing for his Friday evening surgery, helped by activists of the local Liberal Democrat party, when the incident happened.