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Rice asked about sleep, fears, dreams

Grilled by elementary school children on Monday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice replied that she would not run for president, slept for 6.5 hours a night and was not afraid in war zones.

At the tail end of nine days of diplomatic niceties at the UN General Assembly, Rice took time out to visit a Harlem school in a rare foray into domestic policy.

The children at New York's Public School No 154, the Harriet Tubman Learning Center, were decidedly direct in dealing with the top US diplomat, peppering her with questions including how it felt "to be a lady with such a powerful job".

"Sometimes you don't feel all that powerful," Rice said ruefully.

Another student wanted to know whether Rice, whose work has taken her to Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan, is afraid to visit war zones. "I wouldn't say that I am afraid to go to those places. I have (people) who take very good care of me," she said.

Diana inquiry opens, 10 years after death

An inquest into the death of Princess Diana finally opened yesterday, 10 years after she was killed in a Paris car crash, with her lover's father still convinced the pair were victims of an Establishment plot.

Mohamed al-Fayed (right), owner of London's luxury Harrods store, fought a long legal battle to have the inquest heard by a judge and jury. London's High Court is expected to spend up to six months deciding if her death was an accident.

The Egyptian-born tycoon, whose son Dodi died in the crash after a much-publicized summer romance with the "people's princess", alleges they were killed by British security forces acting on orders from the royal family.

He even wants to summon Diana's ex-husband, Prince Charles, and former father-in-law, the Duke of Edinburgh, arguing: "The establishment has done the only thing it could to hurt me. It has killed my son. That I cannot forgive."

Agencies

(China Daily 10/03/2007 page6)