But the lifestyle of those producing his streetwear, in a Honduran sweatshop, has been compared to "slavery" in which workers are forced to take pregnancy tests and fired if the results are positive.

The city, once synonymous with insecurity, civic disintegration and violence, defied the national trend of a slight increase in serious crime by recording a fall of 5%.

From the rear of the boat his captain, Mike Gansas, knew something was drastically wrong and tried to call Smith, first on his walkie-talkie, and then simply yelling his name "Richie" and shouting at him to correct the situation.

Russia's ambassador to the UN, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters that the three leaders would have a telephone conference early today to coordinate their positions on Washington's controversial draft resolution that seeks broader international support for US plans for Iraq's future.

"It's not a mad crush," says Matthew Solomon, a Staten Island resident who takes the ferry occasionally. "People are courteous. But they're also anxious to get home as soon as they can."

The 310ft ferry, carrying about 1,500 passengers, crashed into the enormous wooden pilings on the Staten Island end of its run from Manhattan, reducing the front of the boat to a mass of shattered planks, broken glass and twisted steel.

Because of high birth rates, within seven years one in nine school-age children will be Hispanic and by 2020 one in four new members of the nation's workforce will be Latino, as those Hispanics born in the US outnumber their parents, according to a report released by the Washington-based thinktank, the Pew Hispanic centre.

Two weeks after President George Bush appealed for support from the UN general assembly, several security council member states, including France, Germany and Russia, remain firmly opposed to the proposed timetable for Iraq gaining sovereignty.

Arrows promising information point either to empty booths or each other. When you find a booth with someone inside they are incredibly unhelpful, dispensing their knowledge so sparingly that they might be rehearsing an interrogation at Guantanamo Bay .

Given the times, these were bold words indeed. In the years it took the message to travel from his cell to his supporters, Margaret Thatcher was elected and Ronald Reagan was on his way to the White House. While two of apartheid's most powerful supporters came to office, the ANC's principal backer, the Soviet Union, was in inexorable decline. When the uprising took place, Mandela had already served 13 years in prison; it would be another 14 before he would emerge a free man. In short, victory was anything but certain.

During the commercial break in this year's Oscars, the floor director approached the nominees for best documentary to tell them that their category was up next. Until then, the issue of an acceptance speech had not entered Michael Moore's mind because he didn't think he had a chance of winning.

But as they turn the corner on their way to a rally at St Thomas Aquinas church in a rundown area of South Philadelphia, they break out into a lingua franca of freedom songs and rousing chants. Waving banners, they make their way through a tunnel of applause from residents, religious leaders, trade unionists and civil rights activists as two black women hand them yellow carnations.

The bipartisan group of Arab-American scholars, former diplomats and opinion formers concluded that America's efforts to promote itself positively to Muslims and Arabs was in need of an urgent overhaul.