The Da Vinci Code at the Louvre

The Louvre Museum in Paris had a record number of visitors in 2005, with successful soirees for young people, crowd-pleasing exhibitions and promotion from "The Da Vinci Code," a top administrator said Tuesday. About 7.3 million people visited the art museum in 2005, up from 6.7 million in 2004 -- the previous record -- general administrator Didier Selles told The Associated Press. Definitive 2005 figures are expected in coming weeks. Selles said Dan Brown's mystical thriller "The Da Vinci Code" was in part responsible for drawing fans to the Louvre, though likely "not in gigantic proportions." Some travel companies offer Da Vinci code tours that make stops at the Louvre. The museum expects more dramatic results starting this spring, when Oscar-winning director Ron Howard's movie based on the novel debuts. "There is perhaps a 'Da Vinci Code' effect, but in my opinion it will be truly stronger when the film comes out," Selles said in a telephone interview. The movie stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, and was shot partly in the Louvre. In one of the story line's opening scenes, the Louvre curator is murdered and discovered naked, arms and legs outstretched, with a five-pointed star drawn on his chest in blood. The murder leads to the search for the so-called Da Vinci code. The movie's producers are considering hosting the European premiere for the film at the Louvre, but they also might opt for the Cannes Film Festival in May, Selles said. Another factor in the booming attendance was Friday night soirees that are free for those under age 26. The Louvre also made efforts to cut down on waits for visitors. "It is rare today, except in very, very crowded periods, to have to wait more than 15 minutes to get into the museum, with (lines for) the coatroom included," Selles said. More galleries have also been opened up to the public. In 2001, 25 percent of the Louvre's rooms were closed, compared to 13 percent now. Two successful exhibits in 2005 included a show on Romanesque art from France, which drew 205,000 visitors, and a retrospective on the Romantic painter Anne-Louis Girodet, which brought in 150,000 people and is traveling next to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. About one-fourth of everyone who visits Paris makes a stop at the Louvre, Selles said. One-third of Louvre visitors are French, and Americans are next, at about 18-20 percent. In 2004, Chinese tourists made up 4 percent of visitors -- for the first time, ahead of the Japanese, with 3.5 percent.

A British Muslim leader has told the BBC he believes homosexuality is "not acceptable" and denounced new same-sex civil partnerships as "harmful". Head of the Muslim Council of Britain Sir Iqbal Sacranie said introducing the partnerships did "not augur well" for building the foundations of society. Nevertheless, he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme, everyone should be tolerant. Peter Tatchell of gay rights group OutRage! said: "It is tragic for one minority to attack another minority."

Disease: Sir Iqbal said of civil partnerships: "This is harmful. "It does not augur well in building the very foundations of society - stability, family relationships. And it is something we would certainly not, in any form, encourage the community to be involved in." He said he was guided by the teachings of the Muslim faith, adding that other religions such as Christianity and Judaism held the same stance. "Each of our faiths tells us that it is harmful and I think, if you look into the scientific evidence that has been available in terms of the forms of various other illnesses and diseases that are there, surely it points out that where homosexuality is practised there is a greater concern in that area." He said everyone in society should be tolerant, and if they are not happy then engage in the democratic processes to give their views. "We may not be happy with the views being expressed by others. But the difficulty comes in that at the end of the day we are human beings." He said both the opponents and supporters of civil partnerships had the right to speak out. Mr Tatchell, the founder of OutRage!, added: "Both the Muslim and gay communities suffer prejudice and discrimination. We should stand together to fight Islamophobia and homophobia."

Tory leader David Cameron is promising to defend the values of the NHS against those in his party who want a new system based on medical insurance. Mr Cameron is due to announce his health policy after meeting an ambulance crew in central London. He will promise to keep the NHS as "free at the point of need" to everyone, whatever their wealth. And he will underline his decision to scrap the previous Tory policy of subsidising patients to go private.

Transformation? Mr Cameron said during his campaign to become Conservative leader that he would drop the "patients passport" plan, where patients could take half the cost of their NHS operation to be treated privately. He said the policy could show the party "wants to get people out of the NHS, rather than improve the NHS". The new leader will stress his commitment to the NHS in Wednesday's speech. He will say: "Some people think that we Conservatives want to change the NHS into something that it isn't. "Well, they're right. We do. We want to change the NHS into a more efficient, more effective and more patient-centred service. We want to change it into something of which we can be even more proud. "Other people - some of them in my own party - urge me to go much further. They want me to promise that under the Conservatives, the NHS will be transformed beyond recognition into a system based on medical insurance. "I will never go down that route. Under a Conservative government, the NHS will remain free at the point of need and available to everyone, regardless of how much money they have in the bank."

'Breaking barriers': Some Conservatives want schemes used elsewhere in Europe where everybody pays for health insurance instead of paying taxes - with the costs met for those unable to afford them. Mr Cameron rejects such calls but he will also use his speech to claim he would go further than Labour on reforming the NHS. He will say he wants to give hospitals more autonomy and "break down the barriers" between private and public sector providers so the NHS becomes more efficient and effective. The government has said that by 2008 private sector providers will provide up to 15% of procedures on behalf of the NHS.

Supervision warning: But Conservative shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley has suggested his party would impose no limits on the use of the private sector. He told the Daily Telegraph: "You cannot get proper investment from the private sector if you have such limits. "Those companies will not see it as a long-term business if you adopt that approach." Outgoing Audit Commission chairman James Strachan has warned that, if the private sector accounts for 15% or 20% of NHS work, it will have implications for the remaining NHS services. He wants a small group of strategic health authorities or a commissioner - not a regulator from outside the NHS - to keep sight of that larger picture. In an interview with the BBC News website, Mr Strachan said: "Somebody, if those changes are made, should really assume responsibility for making that mixed economy work effectively without in any way, for example, just standing back and watching key parts of a hospital being farmed out such that it makes it very difficult for its A&E department to run itself because it's lost some of the underpinning surgical divisions which it needs to function."