11.   The claim appeared Tuesday in another state newspaper and has been on Chinese Web sites.

12.   The Iraqi claim appeared in banner headlines in all Baghdad newspapers Tuesday.

13.   Then, unfounded claims appeared in the press that Pakistan-born Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, had fiddled his age and academic record.

14.   Such a claim appeared to receive the backing of a veteran of London political rallies, the former Labour party minister Tony Benn.

15.   The claim appeared to confirm an earlier report.