WORLD AGENDA MARCH 2005

March 1, Germany: A luxury hotel opens on the site of Adolf HitlerÕs Alpine retreat, where GermanyÕs assault on Europe and the Holocaust were planned. Angry Jewish groups fear the Intercontinental Resort Berchtesgaden will attract neo-Nazis.

March 4, West Virginia: AmericaÕs fallen idol, home maker Martha Stewart, is released from prison after serving a five month sentence for lying about a stock sale.

March 6, Moldova: EuropeÕs last Communist Party-run state faces a strong challenge from the Christian Democrats in parliamentary elections. Opposition campaigners have waved orange scarves and banners to echo UkraineÕs recent Orange Revolution, in which pro-democracy forces triumphed.

March 11, Spain: The Club de Madrid, a group of former state leaders, holds a terrorism conference to mark the anniversary of the Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people and injured 1,900.

March 11, United States: A censored version of Mel GibsonÕs The Passion of The Christ, with five to six minutes of violent scenes cut from the film that caused a storm when it opened a year ago, is to be released, unrated, in the run-up to Easter.

March 15, Iraq: The 1,350-strong Dutch contingent of troops, based in Muthanna province, returns home. U.S. forces, boosted for JanuaryÕs election, will also be reduced by 15,000 troops, down to 135,000, in March.

March (undated), India/Indonesia: Marine archaeologists begin an exploration of the seabed in the ancient Indian seaport of Mahabalipuram after priceless Pallava dynasty relics were swept ashore in the deadly tsunamis of December 26. Meanwhile a blueprint to rebuild Aceh, which lost 122,000 of the 305,000 people who died in the disaster, is due for completion.

March (undated), Geneva: SoccerÕs world governing body Fifa will approve plans to establish a medical research centre after a series of sudden heart-related deaths on football fields. Slovene goalkeeper Nedzad Botonjic, Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe and Hungarian Miklos Feher all died during matches or training.

March (undated), Lima: A 9-month-old Peruvian child, dubbed the Little Mermaid, undergoes an operation to separate her conjoined legs. Milagros Cerron was born with sirenomelia, which affects from 1 in 60,000 to 1 in 100,000 people, most of whom die soon after birth.

March (undated), Johannesburg: The first dictionary of Scamto, a mixture of South AfricaÕs 11 official languages which is used by the countryÕs urban black youth and is a symbol of its diversity 11 years after the end of apartheid, is published. It has been compiled by 24-year-old advertising executive Lebo Motshegoa.

Parliamentary elections in Moldova (March 6), Micronesia (March 8), Liechtenstein (March 11 and 13), Tonga (March 17), Somaliland (March 29) and Zimbabwe (March 31). Presidential elections in Central African Republic, first round (March 13).
/ENDS