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Chechnya's attackChechen President Aslan Maskhadov narrowly escaped a car bomb blast in Grozny on Thursday, and proceeded to blame Russia...

Chechnya8217;s attack

Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov narrowly escaped a car bomb blast in Grozny on Thursday, and proceeded to blame Russia for the assassination bid. Maskhadov escaped with only minor injuries after a car packed with explosives detonated in central Grozny as the presidential motorcade swept past. One presidential bodyguard was killed, another died later in hospital and three others were seriously injured in the explosion. Maskhadov initially blamed external forces for the assassination attempt, but later singled out Russian secret services as the orchestrators of the ambush. President Boris Yeltsin said he was outraged by the attack, but Maskhadov was not appeased. 8220;The attack on me was organised by Russian special services,8221; the Chechen leader said in a televised address to citizens of the troubled Caucasus republic, according to ITAR-TASS. 8220;It was carried out by local traitors of our nation, destructive forces,quot; he said.

Praying for peace

Thousands of Buddhists monks,nuns and lay people turned the Cambodian capital8217;s main boulevards into a sea of saffron and white on Friday as they marched, prayed and chanted for a peaceful election in two days time. About 2,500 holy men and women, led by Cambodia8217;s Supreme Buddhist patriarch, the Venerable Maha Ghosananada, completed their six-day march for non-violent polls parading into Phnom Penh and gathering en masse at Independence Monument. 8220;We want a non-violent election,8221; read a banner carried by 21-year-old monk NgetVanarith. 8220;We want the election to go ahead without violence and people killing each other,8221; he said, while uniformed police stopped early-morning traffic around the monument. 8220;We vote for peace,8221; said another of the scores of placards carried by the marchers as they wound their way up the steps and around the towering edifice in concentric circles before coming to a stop when Maha Ghosananda reached the centre.

Helena8217;s farewell

Danish supermodel Helena Christensen, one of the most photographedwomen in the world, has retired from the catwalk, she was reported as saying. In an interview with The Express newspaper, Christensen said: 8220;I8217;ve stopped working for around three months now. I just made the decision and stopped. It8217;s a job you can only do for a certain amount of time. You get to a point where you can8217;t take it any further 8212; the challenge wasn8217;t there for me any more, it didn8217;t excite me.8221; She added: 8220;It8217;s such a weird job. Of course it is wonderful in many ways8230;but you8217;re a product at the end of the day. No one is interested in what is going on in your head. You8217;re always in the spotlight but with no credibility.8221;

The 29-year-old said she would do the occasional catwalk show for friends in the future. Christensen, now with a fortune of some 16 million was one of the five models 8212; also including Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Claudia Schiffer 8212; who in the late 1980s first achieved world wide celebrity status and the title supermodel8217;. She also attractedattention for her relationship with the late Australian rock star Michael Hutchence.

Castro and Kabila

Cuban President Fidel Castro on Thursday met with Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila at the Palace of the Revolution. Officials could not confirm when Kabila, who is on a working visit to Cuba, arrived in the communist island nation. Kabila overthrew President Mobutu Sese Seko in May 1997 and renamed the country. Mobutu died in Morocco on September 5.

Kabila was portrayed very unflatteringly in a recent biography of legendary guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che8217; Guevara, one of Castro8217;s closest allies in the Cuban revolution. Guevara was helping train guerrillas in central Africa when he met Kabila, whom he described as lazy, undisciplined and disinterested in genuine revolutionary issues.