Seven HSE staff travelled to the US, to Kansas, at a cost of €19,000. The trip was to attend a conference at which two of them made a presentation.

Truck driver Mustafa Kamal had dreams that his five-year-old daughter survived the tsunami waves that smashed into Indonesia, and he spent the past four weeks searching for her in refugee camps.

THE little girl in the stained, faded dress and cheeky smile stood out even in the throng of adorable children. With her head cocked to one side and her eyes bright with curiosity, she pushed forward and demanded an introduction.

INDONESIA yesterday ordered foreign aid workers in tsunami-devastated Aceh province to have military escorts in areas facing violence by insurgents, even as the vice-president welcomed a cease-fire offer by the rebels.