“This is the high road which must be followed to the end, even if this involves appropriate modifications in the operating model of the United Nations.”Echoing the complaints long expressed by developing countries in the UN that their needs have been pushed aside by the larger nations, and particularly by the five permanent members of the Security Council, the Pope added: “In an authentic family the strong do not dominate; instead, the weaker members, because of their very weakness, are all the more welcomed and served.”. As examples, he cited the recent conflicts in former Yugoslavia and central Africa. Bosnia was a central topic of the Pope’s meeting with Mr Boutros-Ghali.Without offering prescriptions, the Pope indicated that the UN should undertake internal reforms to meet the responsibilities he sees for it. They became such close friends that Ms Stevens moved in with Ms Turford, putting severe strains on Ms Turford’s marriage.. DAVID USBORNE

New York
The Pope stood before the General Assembly of the United Nations yesterday and called on the organisation to transform itself into a “family of nations” that fosters greater equality and mutual trust between its members.Sealing a new bond between the Vatican and the UN, John Paul II spent several hours at the organisation’s New York headquarters, conferring with the Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and acknowledging the adoration of hundreds of cheering staff members.The Secretary-General and his wife presented a medallion to the Pope, who in turn gave them small boxes with rosary beads.The visit to the UN, during which he also said prayers before a memorial to UN workers who have died carrying out their duties around the world, was billed by the Vatican as the centrepiece of the Pontiff’s five-day trip to the United States, which will include a huge open-air mass in Central Park, New York, tomorrow and conclude with a visit to Baltimore on Sunday.In a philosophical and often dense address to the assembly, the Pope suggested that because of changing conditions around the world – in which freedom is threatened by extreme nationalism and the continuing inequality of the developing South and the industrialised North – the UN should be primarily concerned with resolving conflicts.The UN, he declared, needs to “rise more above the cold status of an administrative institution and to become a moral centre where all the nations of the world feel at home and develop a shared awareness of being, as it were, a ‘family of nations’.”Underlining the threat represented by extreme nationalism and religious fundamentalism – what he called the “fear of difference” between different groups – he warned that they can “lead to a true nightmare of violence and terror”. Ms Turford was caught at her place of work, a telephone sex service.The pair met three years ago while working in a Houston psychiatric hospital. They then put a gun to their heads and took their possessions, including bank cards the women used to withdraw money from cash machines.Police officials said Canada will be seeking to send both women back to Houston so they can face the charges.Unlike the film, where the fugitives drove into the Grand Canyon rather than be captured, the real-life pair’s end came much less spectacularly.

Ms Stevens was arrested at the flat the two shared while in Toronto. The case has attracted wide media attention and captured the public imagination across North America.As in the film starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, the women kissed their middle-class lives goodbye and allegedly went on a crime spree across the US.Houston police believe the pair assaulted at least 10 men from Texas to Nevada after luring them on “dates” through telephone personals advertisements and escort services.They were believed to have tied the men up, pretending that it was a prelude to kinky sex. RUSSELL BLINCH

Reuter
Toronto – One of two women fugitives sought on charges in the United States of committing a string of crimes against men seeking sexual favours went before a deportation court in Canada yesterday.The pair – dubbed “Thelma and Louise” after the Hollywood film about two women on the run from the law – were captured on Wednesday afternoon after a massive hunt involving authorities across Canada and the US, including the Mounties and the FBI.Rose Marie Turford, a former nurse from Canada, who appeared in court yesterday, and Joyce Carolyn Stevens, 30, an American, jumped bail in Texas last May after allegedly duping a number of men out of about $250,000 (pounds 160,000).Ms Stevens and Ms Turford were photographed smiling and waving while being held in an immigration department squad car on Wednesday. What are their names?” “They are called the Juveniles!”I stepped out into the bright desert sunlight and set off on the long trip back to adulthood and the real world.JOHN CARLIN. “I know the names of the tributaries of the Nile,” said Elias “You do?” said Jody “Yep!” “I’m proud of you Elias. Among the things I managed to see were the Tutankhamun’s Tomb museum, which contained replicas of 3,000-year-old cats with golden coats and turquoise claws; the hotel souvenir shop where, they sold do-it-yourself “How to make a mummy” books, amethyst pyramids “Made in Mexico” and, for $45,000, a sarcophagus made in the year 2000BC; and Pharaoh’s Theatre, where an ice show was playing to packed houses of Middle Americans in shorts.On the way to the airport, I paused to bid my last farewell to the camels They were still nattering away. “To our right is the Valley of the Kings,” said the guide, pointing to a mural, “and just ahead, to our left, Rameses III on a chariot.” Mysterious music filled the air.

We turned a bend and on the shore, through a mist, saw a mirage: a damsel in a Cleopatra wig performing a silent belly dance We blinked and she was gone. Then into a tunnel where more mysterious music filled the air. Men wearing white handkerchiefs on their heads were playing flutes and small drums.I could have spent a month sampling the wonders of this adult Disneyland. Propelled along 300,000 gallons of water by a man-made current, we circumnavigated the interior of the pyramid. Me and 15 others on a barge with a guide in a safari suit who warned us as we stepped aboard that the Goddess Isis had issued a commandment forbidding smoking. I decided to settle for the Eggs Benedict Cheops.Then I went for the cruise on the Nile.