Policing the World -1:
Unesco names World Heritage sites
The Sydney Opera House in Australia and
the Red Fort in India have been added to a list of the world's most
valuable cultural treasures.
SITES ADDED TO LIST
Sydney Opera House, Australia
Old town of Corfu, Greece
Red Fort Complex, India
Bordeaux, France
Volcanic island of Jeju, South Korea
Iwami Ginzan silver mine, Japan
Parthian fortresses of Nisa, Turkmenistan
Samarra archaeological city, Iraq
Rideau Canal, Canada
Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic Bridge, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Teide National Park, Spain
Primeval beech forests of the Carpathian, Ukraine
Lope-Okanda, Gabon
Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, South Africa
Twyfelfontein, Namibia
Diaolou villages in Kaiping, Chia
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6248244.stm>
HBO shows disturbing docu on atomic bomb survivors
08/06/2007 | 09:17 PMus
NEW YORK - It's hard to imagine HBO's disturbing documentary on
survivors of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan appearing on an
American TV network 10 or 20 years after the event. Filmmaker Steve
Okazaki tried ? and failed ? to make it for the 50th anniversary.
There's apparently enough emotional scar tissue built up to allow HBO's
premiere of "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki" on Monday (7:30 p.m. Eastern), exactly 62 years after the
United States detonated the first-ever nuclear bomb over Hiroshima. The
second, and so far last, atomic bomb was dropped three days later. It
ended World War II.
Why is the time finally right?
"History is always worth recording and if there is a moment in history
that hasn't been recorded and you're in a place where you have the
resources, you should do it," said Sheila Nevins, head of HBO's
documentary unit. She hopes it becomes a document of record shown in
schools.
The uncomfortable footage of cities reduced to rubble and grotesquely
deformed survivors has received relatively little circulation because ?
unlike the well-recorded Holocaust ? this was something done by
Americans, Nevins said.<
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/54658/HBO-shows-disturbing-docu-on-atomic-bomb-survivors>
Myanmar junta leaders summon US diplomat
10/05/2007 | 11:38 AM
YANGON, Myanmar - The top US diplomat in Myanmar was summoned for rare
talks Friday with Myanmar's hardline government a day after its leader
announced a conditional offer to meet with detained democracy activist
Aung San Suu Kyi.
Shari Villarosa, the highest American official in Myanmar, received
word Thursday that she had been invited to meet with the military-led
government that orchestrated a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy
protesters last week, the State Department said in Washington.
Villarosa has been a vocal critic of the crackdown. During her visit,
Villarosa was expected to repeat the US view that the regime must meet
with democratic opposition groups and ''stop the iron crackdown'' on
peaceful demonstrators, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told
reporters in Washington.
The talks were being held in Naypyitaw, the regime's remote capital
carved out of the jungle about 385 kilometers (240 miles) north of
Yangon. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/63222/Myanmar-junta-leaders-summon-US-diplomat>
Junta seizes explosives from Buddhist monastery
10/18/2007 | 02:32 PM
YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military regime, which acknowledged
detaining nearly 3,000 people during a recent crackdown on
pro-democracy protesters, said Thursday that it seized large quantities
of US-made explosives secreted by a monk from a Buddhist monastery.
Forty-eight blocks of TNT were found last week after investigations by
authorities which led to U Kovida, a 23-year-old monk at Yangon's Nan
Oo monastery, the state-run New Light of Myanmar said.
Monks were at the forefront of mass anti-government demonstrations
which the military brutally suppressed. The junta said Wednesday it
detained nearly 3,000 people in connection with the protests, adding
that hundreds remain in custody and that it is still hunting for others.
But the regime released the country's best known comedian, as well as a
popular actor and his wife who had been taken into detention last month
for openly supporting the anti-government demonstrations. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/64942/Junta-seizes-explosives-from-Buddhist-monastery>
Aussie officials pull children's toys containing 'date rape' drug
11/06/2007 | 06:20 PM
SYDNEY, Australia ? Australian officials ordered a popular children's
toy be pulled from the shelves Tuesday after scientists found it
contains a chemical that converts into a powerful ''date rape'' drug
when ingested.
Three children have been hospitalized over the past 10 days after
swallowing beads from Bindeez, a craft toy sold by Australia-based
Moose Enterprises.
The beads in the toy ? named Australia's toy of the year at an industry
function earlier this year ? are arranged into designs and then fuse
together when sprayed with water.
Scientists say the beads contain a chemical that the human body
metabolizes into the so-called ''date rape'' drug gamma hydroxy
butyrate, also known as Fantasy. When eaten, the compound ? made from
common and easily available ingredients ? can induce seizures,
drowsiness, coma and death.
The New South Wales state minister for fair trading, Linda Burney,
ordered the toys pulled from store shelves Tuesday after a 2-year-old
boy and a 10-year-old girl were admitted to a Sydney hospital in recent
days after swallowing large quantities of the beads.
A 19-month-old toddler from Queensland also was receiving medical help
after eating the beads, the state's chief health officer, Jeannette
Young, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Naren Gunja from Australia's Poisons Information Center said the drug's
effect on children was "quite serious ... and potentially
life-threatening."
A statement from the New South Wales Fair Trading Department said the
product was supposed to used a nontoxic compound used in glue, but
contained the harmful chemical instead.
Burney said officials were investigating the Hong Kong-manufactured product.
"I am treating this matter very seriously," Burney said. "One of the
considerations is how, in fact, such a substance, such a toxic
substance, is actually used in a children's toy."
Moose Enterprises could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday,
a public holiday in Victoria state, where the company is based.
The product was not immediately recalled, but officials ordered stores
to pull Bindeez off their shelves and urged parents to hide the toys
from their children. - AP <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/67487/Aussie-officials-pull-childrens-toys-containing-date-rape-drug>
2 US senators want probe on Internet content blocking
10/28/2007 | 12:45 PM
WASHINGTON - Two Senators on Friday called for a congressional hearing
to investigate reports that phone and cable companies are unfairly
stifling communications over the Internet and on cell phones.
Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said the
incidents involving several companies, including Comcast Corp., Verizon
Wireless and AT&T Inc., have raised serious concerns over the
companies' "power to discriminate against content."
They want the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to
investigate whether such incidents were based on legitimate business
policies or unfair and anticompetitive practices and if more federal
regulation is needed.
"The phone and cable companies have previously stated that they would
never use their market power to operate as content gatekeepers and have
called efforts to put rules in place to protect consumers 'a solution
in search of a problem,'" they said in a letter to Sen. Daniel Inouye,
D-Hawaii, the committee's chairman.
A committee spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/66185/2-US-senators-want-probe-on-Internet-content-blocking>
Oprah takes action on abuse case
Oprah Winfrey attends the opening of the academy in Jan 2007. The
academy aims to offer an elite education to daughters of the poor.
US chat-show host Oprah Winfrey says she is devastated by charges of
abuse at her girls' academy in South Africa and has spelled out the
action taken.
Virginia Mokgobo, who worked at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy
near Johannesburg, has appeared in court charged with indecent assault.
Ms Winfrey has previously said she was herself abused as a child and has campaigned against abuse in the US.
She said she was "cleaning house from top to bottom" at the academy.
Ms Mokgobo, 27, worked as a dormitory matron at the school and was
arrested last week on charges including assault, indecent assault and
soliciting under-age girls to perform indecent acts. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7079327.stm>
Koreans protest over trade pact
Thousands of South Koreans have taken to the streets of their capital,
Seoul, to protest against a bilateral free trade agreement with the US.
The demonstrations involved workers at carmakers Hyundai and Kia, where
an estimated 40,000 staff have been striking in protest at the deal.
Many Korean workers and farmers fear the deal will cost jobs. The free
trade agreement will cut tariffs and is due to be signed in Washington
within 24 hours on 30 June. The Korean Metal Workers' Union estimated
that 20,000 of its members joined farmers and students at the street
demonstration. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6252890.stm>
Ivorians mourn royal killed in Iraq
By James Copnall, BBC News, Abidjan
Firmin Emolo, to be buried on Saturday, is one of the most unusual
casualties of the war in Iraq. But Emolo's origins, as his name
suggests, were not in Detroit or San Francisco, but in Ivory Coast. The
33 year old was a close cousin of Nanan Boa Kouassi III, king of the
Agni ethnic group in the east of the West African country. So how did a
member of an Ivorian royal family end his days as a US soldier? "Like
many of our young men, he went to America to study," explains family
friend and local member of parliament Boa Thiemele Edjampan. "Then he
married an American, got American nationality, and joined the
military." Unusually, the US military flew Specialist Emolo's remains
back to Ivory Coast, so he could be buried in his home town of
Abengourou. Emolo was not well known in Ivory Coast, but some Ivorians
have been surprised to learn that one of their countrymen died in Iraq.
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6251144.stm>
Rockets fired at Ivorian PM plane
Rockets have been fired at a plane carrying Ivory Coast Prime Minister
Guillaume Soro, who was not hurt in the attack, his New Forces group
says. At least three people were killed in the attack in Bouake, the
headquarters of Mr Soro's former rebel group. Reinforcements have
reportedly been rushed to Bouake airport and shooting was reported in
the town. Mr Soro was named prime minister in April under a deal to end
Ivory Coast's four-year division. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6253484.stm>
Atom bomb row minister apologises
Japan's defence minister has apologised for saying the US atom bomb attacks in World War II were inevitable.
Fumio Kyuma's comments had outraged bomb survivors and sparked calls from opposition parties for his dismissal.
The minister said he was sorry if he had given the impression he lacked
respect for the victims of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Speaking in Nagasaki, where he is from, Mr Kyuma promised not to make such remarks in the future.
He had said in a speech at a university that the bombing appeared to be "something that couldn't be helped". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6258190.stm>
US Senate locked in Iraq battle
The US Senate has resumed debate on Iraq war policy, with no sign yet
of a break in the political deadlock. Senators are due to vote on three
major amendments to a defence funding bill, one of which would require
withdrawal of US troops by the end of April 2008. The Senate's
Democratic leader has said a rare all-night sitting will be held on
Tuesday before a vote on Wednesday. US President George W Bush has
insisted his "surge" strategy must be given time to work before
changing course in Iraq. The pressure on Mr Bush is mounting, with some
Republicans withdrawing support and an interim progress report last
week which showed mixed results in Iraq. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6901567.stm>
Should the World Bank wither away?
By Jane Beresford
Radio 4's World Bank - A Crisis Too Far
It began as a bit of a joke. The word "girlfriend" and "Paul Wolfowitz" did not seem to go naturally together.
But when Mr Wolfowitz - a former deputy defence secretary and one of
the masterminds behind the invasion of Iraq - became president of the
World Bank, his girlfriend, a Bank employee called Shaha Riza, was
given a better-paid and more senior job seconded to the US government.
Mr Wolfowitz was accused of favouring her.
Although he argued, with some justification, that the Bank itself had gone along with the arrangements, he was forced to resign.
But that is not the end of the turmoil at the World Bank. Mr Wolfowitz
might be the proximate cause of its troubles, but the real problems at
the Bank are much deeper - and in a sense, much more interesting.
"Personally, I would privatise the World Bank" John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN
They are rooted in its past. The World Bank began life in order to reconstruct a devastated post-war Europe.
"The idea was that you could create a bank that would be
self-financing," says Ngaire Woods of Oxford University, "it would
raise money in capital markets by selling bonds and it would lend that
money to poor countries."
An American was placed at the helm to reassure Wall Street, then the only capital market in the world.
To this day, the US government, the largest "stakeholder" in the Bank, guards its right to appoint the leader. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6904878.stm>
'Losing sight of Planet Earth'
By Molly Bentley
A key US space agency (Nasa) satellite important for detecting
hurricanes and providing other climate data will go silent in the next
few years, and missions to replace it have been cancelled or delayed.
The QuickScat satellite, caught in a controversy that cost the director
of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) his job, provides useful data on
wind that helps weather forecasters detect major storms, such as the
one that hit Japan this past week.
The decision not to replace it will diminish forecasters' ability to
predict some hurricanes and comes at time when the need for climate
data is paramount. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6909887.stm>
Dilemmas revealed in US-UK relationship
By Gordon Corera
BBC News security correspondent
At the heart of the Intelligence and Security Committee's report into
rendition is the story of the UK's intense but occasionally difficult
relationship with the US when it comes to intelligence sharing and
counter-terrorism since 9/11. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6916371.stm>
US 'plans huge Saudi arms deal'
The United States is reported to be preparing a major arms deal with
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states worth $20bn (£9.8bn) over the
next decade.
Defence officials quoted by US media said the sales would include
advanced weaponry, missile guidance systems, upgraded fighter jets and
naval ships.
It is said to be an attempt to counter the regional threat posed by Iran. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6920458.stm>
West Bank's own slice of America
By Martin Patience, BBC News, West Bank
Mazraa Sharqiya is not your average Palestinian village.
Expensive jeeps and cars line the pristine streets. Expensive villas nestle behind high stone walls.
Whereas many modern Palestinian homes are built from cinderblocks, here
there are opulent four-storey residences, many of them clad in marble.
With about a third of Palestinian households in the West Bank living in
poverty according to the United Nations, Mazraa Sharqiya is an obvious
exception to the rule.
Some Palestinians even refer to the village as the Miami of the West
Bank on account of the wealth and the seemingly endless summer partying.
But the wealth found in Mazraa Sharqiya is not produced locally - it
comes from the Palestinian diaspora, people who have left their homes
in search of a better life.
About two-thirds of the village's 15,000 inhabitants live abroad, mainly in the United States. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6913724.stm>
US 'aims to help' Mid-East allies
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Egypt, 31/7/07
Condoleezza Rice insisted the US shared aims with Middle East allies
The US will help its allies in the Middle East meet their security
needs and counter the growing power of Iran, the US secretary of state
has said.
Condoleezza Rice flew to the region a day after announcing arms deals worth $63bn (£31bn) for Middle East allies.
She visited Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with US Defence Secretary Robert
Gates, as they seek to convince allies to help stabilise Iraq and
counter Iran.
But Syria and the Palestinian Hamas faction criticised US regional policy.
Ms Rice and Mr Gates met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab
ministers at the start of a tour also aimed at uniting US allies
against Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6924273.stm>
Whole Foods boss in bid spotlight
A US trade watchdog has focused on controversial comments from the boss
of organic firm Whole Foods Market as it seeks to stop a $565m
(£276m) takeover.
John Mackey told his board of directors that bid target Wild Oats was
the only rival that could give a traditional retailer access to the
organic sector.
A takeover would eliminate that threat "forever, or almost forever", he said.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is trying to block the takeover saying it would stifle competition.
Whole Foods argues that it needs to merge with Wild Oats to better compete against larger non-organic retailers. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6927675.stm>
The Abu Ghraib whistleblower's ordeal
By Dawn Bryan, BBC News
The US soldier who exposed the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib
prison found himself a marked man after his anonymity was blown in the
most astonishing way by Donald Rumsfeld.
When Joe Darby saw the horrific photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison he was stunned.
So stunned that he walked out into the hot Baghdad night and smoked half a dozen cigarettes and agonised over what he should do.
Joe Darby was a reserve soldier with US forces at Abu Ghraib prison
when he stumbled across those images which would eventually shock the
world in 2004.
They were photographs of his colleagues, some of them men and women he
had known since high school - torturing and abusing Iraqi prisoners.
His decision to hand them over rather than keep quiet changed his life forever.
The military policeman has only been allowed to talk about that
struggle very recently, and in his first UK interview, for BBC Radio
4's The Choice, he told Michael Buerk how he made that decision and how
he fears for the safety of his family. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6930197.stm>
190,000 weapons 'missing in Iraq'
Iraqi National guardsman with AK-47 (archive)
AK-47 assault rifles might have ended up in insurgents' hands
The US military cannot account for 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and
pistols given to the Iraqi security forces, an official US report says.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Pentagon cannot
track about 30% of the weapons distributed in Iraq over the past three
years.
The Pentagon did not dispute the figures, but said it was reviewing arms deliveries procedures. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6932710.stm>
UK seeks Guantanamo men release
The UK government has requested the release of five British residents from US custody at Guantanamo Bay.
The men are not British citizens but lived in the UK before they were detained by the US.
The request is a change of policy for the government which had
previously said it could not intercede for non-British citizens <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6934669.stm>
Profile: UK residents in Guantanamo
Microsoft $1.5bn MP3 fine dropped
A US district court has overturned a decision ordering Microsoft to pay
phone firm Alcatel-Lucent $1.52bn (£777m) for infringing music
patents.
The federal judge in San Diego reversed a jury's decision which had
ruled that Microsoft's Media Player software infringed on two Alcatel
patents.
Both patents regarded how audio was converted into MP3 files.
Alcatel said it would appeal against the decision while Microsoft said the reversal was a "victory for consumers". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6934363.stm>
'Fifty dead' in Philippines clash
Philippines army chief sent south
Philippines President Gloria Arroyo has sent the country's army chief
to the restive south to lead operations against Islamic militants there.
"I have ordered army commanding general Romeo Tolentino to the front lines," Mrs Arroyo said in a statement.
"The army headquarters will now be temporarily set up in Zamboanga until the situation normalises," she said.
Fighting on the island of Jolo this week has left at least 50 people dead, 25 of them Filipino soldiers.
Following the clashes thousands of civilians have fled their homes on
the island, which is some 950km (600 miles) south of the capital,
Manila.
On Saturday local officials appealed for food, water and medicines as
people flocked to community centres and schools, fearing more fighting.
Troops backed by US military trainers have been fighting militants
affiliated to various groups, hiding in the island's mountainous
terrain. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6942697.stm>
Giuliani anti Palestinian state
The leading Republican presidential candidate in the US, Rudy Giuliani
Giuliani has long been a critic of the idea of a Palestinian state
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani has said he is not in
favour of the creation of a Palestinian state, contradicting current US
policy.
In an essay, he said it was not in the US interest to help create a state that, he said, would support terrorism.
He also said he would consider talks with Iran, so long as its rulers
understood the US might be prepared to destroy Iran's nuclear
infrastructure.
The former New York mayor leads polls for the Republican party's nomination. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6950829.stm>
Junior ranks take flak for Abu Ghraib
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website
The acquittal of a US army colonel on charges relating to the abuse of
prisoners at Abu Ghraib means no officers have been found criminally
guilty. The episode stained the reputation of the US military and may
well have acted as a recruiting agent for insurgents. Abu Ghraib abuse
photograph (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker) Ten junior soldiers
have been convicted over the Abu Ghraib abuse (AP Photo/Courtesy of The
New Yorker) The officer, Lt-Col Steven Jordan, was found not guilty by
a military jury of failing to train and supervise the soldiers under
his authority at Abu Ghraib. Instead he was convicted of breaking an
order not to discuss the case. He was reprimanded. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6970212.stm>
Most people 'want Iraq pull-out'
Most people across the world believe US-led forces should withdraw from Iraq within a year, a BBC poll suggests.ine„
Some 39% of people in 22 countries said troops should leave now, and
28% backed a gradual pull-out. Just 23% wanted them to stay until Iraq
was safe.
In the US, one-in-four supported an immediate withdrawal, while 32%
wanted Iraq's security issues to be resolved before bringing the troops
home. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6981553.stm>
US terror law 'unconstitutional'
A law allowing federal anti-terrorism agents to access information on
the US public without a warrant has been ruled as unconstitutional by a
US judge.
Victor Marrero said Congress exceeded its authority by allowing the FBI
to keep requests secret under the Patriot Act, passed after the 9/11
attacks.
He said the act offended constitutional principles of checks and balances, and violated the guarantee of free speech.
The requests were mainly for financial, telephone and internet records.
Judge Marrero said his ruling would not take effect immediately, thus giving the government time to appeal. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6982826.stm>
US seeks stronger Asian democracy
US President George W Bush has called for the strengthening of
democracy across Asia. In a speech ahead of a summit of Asia-Pacific
leaders in Sydney, he said free countries should work together to
support democratic institutions. Mr Bush singled out Burma, calling on
the military government to free all political prisoners, including
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He also urged China to use next
year's Olympics to show "greater openness".<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6982820.stm>
Little progress on halting Iraq's decay
Analysis
By Robert Plummer, Business reporter, BBC News
The US troop surge in Iraq has been accompanied by a similar surge in
the amount of US funds devoted to Iraqi reconstruction - but with just
as debatable an effect.
An Iraqi boy fills a pot with water at his home in Baghdad's predominantly Shia suburb of Sadr City, 7 August 2007
Water supplies are unreliable in the Iraqi capital
By the end of 2006, Washington had provided $37.45bn to help rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure.
Figures issued just six months later showed that the total has since swollen to $44.54bn - an increase of nearly one-fifth.
But ordinary Iraqis have seen no benefit from this extra cash. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6977728.stm>
Apec 'muddies the climate waters'
ANALYSIS
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Presidents Hu and Bush. Image: AFP
Presidents Hu and Bush have been on opposite sides of the table
If you thought that climate change was just an occasional staging post
on the eternal global tour of international diplomacy, think so no more.
Within the last few months the climate circus has stopped at the G8 in
Heiligendamm, the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) in Vienna, and UN HQ
in New York (twice) - not to mention triple dips into the prediction
pot of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6981360.stm>
Bush pushed on Korea peace treaty
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and US President George W Bush shake hands on sidelines of Apec - 07/09/07
The exchange between the two leaders was light but testy
US President George W Bush has said a peace treaty with North Korea can
be achieved once Pyongyang ends its nuclear weapons programme.
He restated his position during an odd exchange with his S Korean
counterpart who asked him to be "clearer" on the issue during a joint
news conference.
Earlier, Mr Bush called for the strengthening of democracy across Asia, singling out Burma for criticism. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6982820.stm>
Bin Laden says US should convert
Osama Bin Laden in still from video (07/09/07)
Bin Laden looks drawn and tired in the video
Bin Laden tape
A new video tape purportedly made by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden
has urged the American people to embrace Islam in order to stop the war
in Iraq.
Unnamed US officials said they believed the speaker, who makes no overt
threats against the US, was indeed Bin Laden. It is his first video in
three years. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6984102.stm>
Is Noriega too hot to handle?
By Kathryn Westcott, BBC News
A long spell in a US jail has not dented former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega's capacity to provoke controversy.
Days before his scheduled release from his prison cell in Miami, his
lawyers are embroiled in a battle over where he is to be sent.
Until Wednesday, it looked as if Noriega was about to exchange his
Miami prison cell for a new life in France. Not, however, a life of
luxury in exile - but the possibility of another jail term. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6965870.stm>
Petraeus says Iraq gains 'uneven'
The most senior US commander in Iraq has said that progress in bringing
security to the country had been uneven and in some cases disappointing.
In a letter to troops, General David Petraeus said Iraq's political
leaders had not made the gains hoped for under the US troop "surge"
strategy.
But he said US forces had achieved "tactical momentum" against insurgents in several areas of Iraq.
Gen Petraeus is to deliver his war assessment to Congress on Monday. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6983140.stm>
Key quotes: Iraq surge hearing
America's top military commander in Iraq and the US ambassador in
Baghdad are testifying in Congress about the results achieved so far by
the six-month-old US troop expansion. Here are some key quotes: <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6988063.stm>
US debate behind Iraq troop numbers
By James Coomarasamy, BBC News, Washington
It has been an intense, but strangely unsatisfactory few days in Washington.
After all the charts and testimony, the cross examinations and
posturing, big questions remain: have we seen a change of momentum in
US Iraq policy or just the impression of one?
Does the planned withdrawal of 5,700 US troops by Christmas, announced
by President George W Bush, amount to anything more than a recognition
of the limits of an overstretched military? <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6996151.stm>
Big Brother is watching us all
Iraqis angry at Blackwater shooting
By Hugh Sykes
BBC News, Baghdad
Blackwater employees scan Baghdad from their helicopter. File photo
As many as 20,000 private security contractors are working in Iraq
US security firm Blackwater says it acted "lawfully and appropriately"
after its convoy was "violently attacked by armed insurgents" in
Baghdad earlier this week.
Blackwater security guards then opened fire in a busy Baghdad square.
Eyewitnesses and recovering victims of the shooting - in which 11 Iraqi
civilians died - say the Blackwater account is wrong. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7003473.stm>
Huge rally in small-town Louisiana
By Andy Gallacher, BBC News, Jena
The plight of the "Jena Six", a group of black teenagers who were
initially charged with attempted murder after beating a white
classmate, has provoked one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations
in the US in recent years.
Protesters converged on the small Louisiana town of Jena to demonstrate
against what they said was a double standard of prosecution for blacks
and whites.
They came in their thousands, protesters from across the United States
carrying banners and signs that declared "Free the Jena six" and
"Enough is enough". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7005866.stm>
Blackwater denies Iraq smuggling
A US company that provides security for US diplomats in Iraq has denied
as "baseless" allegations that it was involved in weapons smuggling.
Blackwater's statement follows reports of a US investigation into
allegations that some employees sent unlicensed weapons and equipment
to Iraq.
The weapons could have been used by a group labelled as terrorist by the US.
Blackwater has been blamed by Iraqi officials for a Baghdad gunfight in which 11 civilians died last Sunday.
The North Carolina-based company - which has been hired by the US state
department to guard American diplomatic staff in Iraq - has said its
employees acted in self-defence.
Blackwater had its licence to operate in Iraq withdrawn by the Iraqi
authorities following the shootout, but resumed limited operations on
Friday.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi interior ministry said it was also investigating
if Blackwater had been involved in six other violent incidents in Iraq
that left at least 10 people dead. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7008703.stm>
Quartet aims for Mid-East momentum
By James Robbins, Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News
Momentum. That was the word on everyone's lips.
The quartet of Middle East mediators - the US, Russia, the EU and the
UN - are seizing on the possibility that for the first time since the
collapse of former US President Bill Clinton's Camp David talks seven
years ago there could, just could, be an opening towards peace.
The quartet, and their special envoy, former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, remained, deliberately, very cautious indeed but there is
at least a sense of a path towards peace that does not look utterly
blocked. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7009831.stm>
Legacy of the Little Rock Nine
Former President Bill Clinton will be in the Arkansas city of Little
Rock on Tuesday to mark the experiences of a group of black students in
1957. The BBC's Nick Bryant examines events that still grip the
American psyche.
The Little Rock crisis of September 1957 pitted nine black
schoolchildren against the brute force of southern racism, in one of
the most climactic struggles of the civil rights era.
It came to symbolise not just the intransigence of white
segregationists hell-bent on upholding their long-cherished "southern
way of life" - as the region's system of racial apartheid was
euphemistically known - but the willingness of young black activists to
put their lives on the line to win freedom. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7010184.stm>
Egypt angry at US rights comment
By Ian Pannell, BBC News, Cairo
Egypt has reacted angrily to criticism of its human rights record by the United States.
The White House raised concerns about a number of court cases against
the independent press and the closure of a human rights organisation.
Egypt's foreign minister rejected the comments as "unacceptable interference" in the country's internal affairs.
The pressure on independent and opposition forces in Egypt has been growing for many months now.
But in the past two weeks, there seems to have been a particular move against the independent press. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7014994.stm>
Arab states named as more corrupt
An anti-corruption group says three Arab states are among a dozen
worldwide where corruption has seen a significant increase in the past
year.
The Arab nations named by Transparency International were Jordan and the Gulf states of Bahrain and Oman.
The Arab countries with the least perceived corruption were Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Places with a history of civil conflict - such as Burma, Iraq and Somalia - were rated the worst for corruption. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7014797.stm>
British sympathy for jailed Nazi
By Dominic Casciani, BBC News
Rows over the jailing of Adolf Hitler's deputy became a key point of Cold War tension, papers reveal.
Rudolf Hess was held in Berlin's Spandau prison until his suicide in 1987, aged 93.
The documents show British governors fought Soviet attempts to turn the
jointly-run jail into a "gulag" labour camp with just one prisoner.
France, the US, UK and Russia jointly managed the jail - and disputes over Hess led to bitter recriminations.
Hess had been in custody since flying to Scotland in 1941. Marginalised
in the Nazi hierarchy with increasing mental problems, he thought he
could strike a peace deal with Britain so Hitler could invade Russia
unhindered. He ended up jailed for life at the Nuremberg war crime
trials.
By the 1970s, he was the only Nazi left in Spandau and a humanitarian campaign had been launched to see him released.
The three western powers sympathised but could do nothing without the Soviet Union's agreement. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7017191.stm>
Blackwater deaths 'tragic' - US
By Jonathan Beale, BBC News, Washington
The US has admitted something went tragically wrong when 11 Iraqis died
in a shooting involving a US private security contractor earlier this
month.
The Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, said his department was
now reviewing security arrangements for its staff in Iraq following the
incident.
The Pentagon is also carrying out an investigation into contractors in Iraq.
The firm under suspicion, Blackwater, has said its guards reacted lawfully to an attack on a US diplomatic convoy.
Earlier, Iraqi ministers said they were still determined to press ahead
with legislation that would strip foreign security personnel of their
immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7017159.stm>
Guantanamo inmates to get lawyers
Fourteen "high-value" detainees held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay are to be given access to lawyers.
The prisoners include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the 11 September, 2001 attacks against the US.
They have not had access to lawyers in the year they have been at Guantanamo nor while previously held in CIA jails. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7018471.stm>
'Arrest order' for Interpol head
South African prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for Commissioner of Police Jackie Selebi, reports say.
Mr Selebi is the current head of the international police body, Interpol. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7017029.stm>
Tales from the 'Black Garden'
By Stephanie Holmes, BBC News
The lives of thousands of young Azeris and Armenians have been scarred
by the bitter conflict over a mountainous region whose name means
"Black Garden".
Some 30,000 people were killed during the war over Nagorno-Karabakh in
the early 1990s, and little progress towards peace has been made since
a 1994 ceasefire.
The struggle for the mainly Armenian-populated region of Azerbaijan
remains unresolved, and hundreds of thousands of people are waiting to
return to their former homes.
For nearly 20 years Azeris and Karabakh Armenians have had no contact with one another.
But a group of young journalists from both sides, who grew up during
the war, are now taking part in a project that brings them together to
make short documentary films.
They explore the impact of war on the two communities and the
absurdities of daily life under the conditions of frozen conflict. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7016962.stm>
Critics angry at Bush climate plan
By Roger Harrabin, Environment analyst, BBC News
US President George W Bush at the Washington climate forum
Mr Bush warned world leaders of the dangers of climate change
US President George W Bush infuriated his critics by professing world
leadership on climate change at his meeting of the top 16 world
economies - while offering no new substantive policy and implicitly
rejecting binding emissions controls. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7019346.stm>
Washington diary: Bush on Burma
By Matt Frei, BBC News, Washington
US President George W Bush addresses the UN on Burma
At the UN, Mr Bush announced tighter US sanctions against Burma
It was both uplifting and odd to hear US President George W Bush vent his anger over Burma on Tuesday.
Personally, I thought it was a master stroke that he barely even
mentioned Iran. Blithe indifference was the ultimate snub to President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rhetorical rants.
Burma came along as a welcome distraction. Let's hope it becomes more than that. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7015465.stm>
Frenchman is named new IMF chief
IMF chief's daunting task
Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been formally named as the new head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The appointment of the former French Socialist finance minister to the helm of the organisation had been widely expected.
The only other nomination for the role was Josef Tosovsky, a former
Czech prime minister, who was put up as a late candidate by Russia.
Mr Strauss-Kahn was backed by Europe and the US, which dominate the IMF.
Mr Strauss-Kahn was visiting Chile when the IMF board decision was
announced, in a symbolic gesture to show his desire to give emerging
economies more of a voice in key decisions at the IMF. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7018756.stm>
'Secret' Lockerbie report claim
Lawyers acting for the Lockerbie bomber are expected to ask the High
Court to examine claims that vital documents were kept from the trial
defence team.
It is believed the documents may have undermined the case against Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.
Megrahi is currently serving a minimum of 27 years for the 1988
atrocity in which 270 people died when Pan-Am flight 103 exploded over
Lockerbie.
He is awaiting an appeal on the grounds of a possible miscarriage of justice. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7023397.stm>
FBI to investigate Iraq shootout
The FBI is to investigate the role of the private security firm,
Blackwater USA, in the fatal shooting of 11 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad
last month.
An FBI spokesman said criminal charges were possible if its inquiry agreed with the Iraqi government's findings.
Iraq has accused Blackwater's employees of opening fire on civilians without provocation, a charge the firm denies.
Later on Tuesday, Blackwater's chairman will appear before a Congressional committee investigating the incident. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7023416.stm>
Iraq row puts security firms in the dock
By Jonathan Beale
BBC News, Washington
Blackwater security personnel on board a helicopter in Baghdad (2005)
As many as 20,000 private security contractors are working in Iraq
Questions about one private security firm's actions have put a whole industry on trial.
The firm in the dock is Blackwater; the industry under the spotlight is that of private security contractors. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7023403.stm>
New US army chief states mission
The new top military adviser to US President George W Bush has said he
wants to prepare the military for challenges beyond Iraq and
Afghanistan.
At his swearing-in ceremony as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Admiral Michael Mullen said he wants to revitalise the armed forces.
Meanwhile, the FBI is to investigate US security firm Blackwater over the deaths of 11 Iraqis last month.
US politicians are also to question the company's chairman about the incident. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7023230.stm>
US Supreme Court starts new term
The US Supreme Court has begun a new term, during which it will hear
cases involving terror suspects' legal rights and the use of lethal
injections.
The court will also review a state law requiring voters to show photo ID.
Observers are keen to see whether the highest US court continues the
shift to the right it showed on divisive social issues in the term that
ended in June.
The opening of the session coincided with the release of the memoirs of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
In the autobiography, called My Grandfather's Son, Mr Thomas describes
liberal interest groups who opposed his nomination to the court in 1991
as "left-wing zealots".
He also denounces a former aide who accused him of sexual harassment during his 1991 confirmation hearings. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7023043.stm>
Guantanamo reflects US-Cuba history
By Stephen Gibbs, BBC News
US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in file photo from 2002
The base is located in Cuba's best natural harbour
To understand a little more about the complicated, bitter-sweet
relationship between Washington and Havana, Guantanamo Province in the
eastern corner of Cuba is worth a visit.
It is an arid place where two ideological enemies, normally separated
by 145km (90 miles) of water and 48 years of distrust, are
tantalisingly close.
On the one side, there is Guantanamo City, home to 200,000 people and
the usual Cuban mixture of Soviet and colonial architecture, horse
carts, 1950s American cars and revolutionary slogans.
On the other side, hidden behind a range of hills, is GTMO, home to
10,000 US Navy personnel, neat suburban houses, the only McDonald's in
Cuba and the most controversial prison camp in the world.
Two worlds. Two systems. Two enemies. Never the twain shall meet, you would have thought.
Not quite. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7010725.stm>
Japan scheme 'abuses foreign workers'
By Chris Hogg, BBC News, Tokyo
Over the past 17 years, thousands of foreign workers have travelled to
Japan, taking part in an official scheme to learn skills they cannot
pick up in their own countries.
But this year the Japanese government's own experts have admitted that in many cases trainees are used as cheap labour.
Factory in Tokyo Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007
The scheme's participants want to learn from Japan's workplaces
The US state department has gone further. In its annual report on human
trafficking, it said that "some migrant workers are reportedly
subjected to conditions of forced labour through [its] foreign trainee
programme". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7014960.stm>
Iraqi Kurds sign four oil deals
By Mark Gregory, BBC News
Pipeline pumping tubes in Basra
Most of Iraq's oil is in the Shia south and Kurdish north
The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq has announced four new
oil exploration deals with international energy companies.
The news is likely to upset the central government in Baghdad and the US.
Both have been pressing the Kurds to hold off negotiations until
national oil and gas laws for opening up Iraq's energy wealth are in
place.
Development of Iraq's oil reserves has been held up by disagreements between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish communities.
These laws will set the framework for investment by foreign energy firms and for dividing oil revenues between the communities.
But increasingly the semi-autonomous Kurdish area has signalled that it
will go it alone without waiting for a national consensus. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7027249.stm>
Washington diary: Farewell cowboy?
By Matt Frei, BBC News, Washington
Imagine an administration that has persuaded one of the world's most
opaque and troublesome regimes to negotiate the dismantling of its
nukes.
US President George W Bush
President Bush has had to engage in the art of compromise
Imagine an administration has given more than $15bn towards treating
HIV/Aids, mainly in Africa; that has hinted it might boycott the
Beijing Olympics if China doesn't intervene to stop Burmese monks from
getting slaughtered; that has tried - and failed - to force immigration
reform down the throats of its own party; that obsesses about
alternative fuels and talks climate change.
Imagine an administration that prefers a diplomatic to a military
option in Iran, is in bed with the French, on the sofa with the Germans
and in the cooler with the Brits.
Stop imagining. What I have described is the White House of George W Bush in October 2007.
Remember him? The cowboy of the Western World, who declared that you
were either with us or with the terrorists, the man who wanted Osama
Bin Laden dead or alive and told Iraqi insurgents to bring it on. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7027166.stm>
The controversy over Africom
By Daniel Gordon, BBC World Service's Analysis programme
General William Ward
General William Ward will be Africom's first commander
US Africa Command - a unit designed to run all of America's military operations in Africa - opened for business this month.
Africom takes over the work currently done by three different command
centres, all of them based outside Africa. While it is stationed in
Germany for now, there has been a hostile reaction from many African
countries to the idea of such a major US military installation moving
onto African soil.
Many crucial details about how it is meant to work are still unclear.
It has not yet been revealed, for example, where its headquarters will
be.
And the fact that so much is still under wraps is fuelling the suspicion about what it is intended for. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7026197.stm>
First Pyongyang - then Tehran?
By Gordon Corera, BBC News security correspondent
The agreement by North Korea to dismantle its nuclear facilities by the
end of the year represents a major step forward in the long, tortuous
process of six-party negotiations.
White-clad North Korean dancers form the shape of the peninsula during the Arirang Games spectacular in Pyongyang on Wednesday
What prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula?
But even the most optimistic experts believe there is some distance still to travel.
Much of the focus has been on the detail - the "nuts and bolts" of
implementation, as US negotiator Christopher Hill put it, and the
journey of the coming months towards completion of the deal is unlikely
to be without bumps along the road as some of the key details are
worked through.
The agreement sets out a timetable for Pyongyang to declare and disable
its nuclear facilities. A team of experts led by the US is expected to
arrive in a matter of weeks to prepare this process.
North Korea has already suspended activity at its key Yongbyon plant - but actual disablement is a much bigger step. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7026759.stm>
Bush denies US torture use claims
US President George W Bush has rejected claims his administration uses torture and defended the CIA's methods.
He was responding to a New York Times report that the US Justice
Department secretly authorised harsh interrogation techniques for
terror suspects in 2005.
The alleged 2005 memo came months after a 2004 opinion in which the Justice Department declared torture abhorrent.
Mr Bush said: "This government does not torture people. We stick to US law and our international obligations."
According to the New York Times, the interrogation techniques endorsed
by a 2005 Justice Department memo were some of the harshest ever used
by the CIA.
They included head-slapping, exposure to freezing temperatures and simulated drowning, known as water-boarding. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7030383.stm>
New loyalties give Baghdad reprieve
US company settles pollution case
Smog
Firms have to meet requirements under the Clean Air Act
American Electric Power (AEP) has settled a long-running pollution
case, which will see it spend $1.6bn (£786m) to upgrade its coal
plants.
The case, brought by the Environment Agency and US states, accused the
firm of failing to take the necessary steps to mitigate the impact of
acid rain.
AEP will also pay a $15m civil penalty and $60m for clean-up costs.
The company has denied any wrongdoing. AEP said it felt it was better to settle the dispute than let it drag on. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7035045.stm>
Manipulating the climate message
ANALYSIS
By Roger Harrabin
Environment analyst, BBC News
President Bush (Getty Images)
Semantics play a part in getting China to attend Mr Bush's meeting
What's in a name? A lot, according to the Chinese government.
It forced President Bush to change the title of his recent
international climate gathering from the "big emitters" conference to
the "major economies" conference.
The apparently minor change reveals the exquisite sensitivity of global climate politics.
The US is keen to paint the Chinese as the world's future biggest
polluter, but the Chinese reject the epithet because their emissions
per person are about one-sixth of the average American.
President Bush first mooted a conference of large emitters just before
the G8+5 meeting in the summer. I understand that China was approached
but refused to attend the meeting in Washington unless the name change
was made.
The victory was notional because the world media continued to refer to
the meeting at the end of September as the large emitters conference
anyway.
Indeed, the American Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice took the
opportunity to consolidate the message by welcoming India, China and
Brazil as "equals" in the battle against climate change - an accolade
they do not want.
The original wording of the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change signed in 1992 by President Bush senior refers to
"common but differentiated responsibility" on emissions cuts, but this
phrase has been shunned by his son. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7027887.stm>
US envoy urges Burma 'transition'
US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad speaking at a Security Council meeting, 05/10
Zalmay Khalilzad said the military would still have a role to play
Burma's ruling generals need to prepare for a transition of power
involving opposition activists and international mediators, the US
envoy to the UN says.
Zalmay Khalilzad called on the military regime to begin talks with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Ky.
He was speaking as the UN debated a statement "strongly deploring" the recent crackdown on peaceful protests. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7035943.stm>
Wars in Africa wipe out aid gains
By Peter Biles, BBC News, Johannesburg
A new report on armed conflict in Africa has shown that the cost to the
continent's development over a 15-year period was nearly $300bn.
The research was undertaken by a number of non-governmental organisations, including Oxfam.
It says that the cost of conflict was equal to the amount of money received in aid during the same period.
This is the first time that analysts have calculated the overall effects armed violence on development.<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7038348.stm>
Iraq's displaced people nightmare
Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC Arab affairs analyst
The huge displacement of people inside Iraq appears to be contributing to the further fragmentation of the county.
Children at a camp for displaced people near Najaf, Iraq
Sectarian violence has forced people from their homes across Iraq
The scale of the overall displacement is unprecedented in the modern history of the Middle East.
There are now an estimated four million Iraqis who have been forced to
flee their homes, and the numbers continue to rise, according to the UN
refugee agency. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7038681.stm>
'Dirty War' trial puts spotlight on Church
By Daniel Schweimler, BBC News, Buenos Aires
The Roman Catholic priest, Christian Von Wernich, will spend the rest
of his life in prison following his conviction for involvement in the
murder of seven people and other serious human rights violations during
military rule in Argentina.
Justice has been done, but the case is likely to raise as many questions as it answers. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7038860.stm>
Croatia hosts major Nato exercise
For the first time, Nato is holding a major military exercise in a
non-member country, Croatia. The BBC's Nick Hawton has been given
access to the Noble Midas 07 exercise.
A Spanish fighter pilot emerges from his cockpit after his warplane touches down on the UK aircraft carrier, HMS Illustrious.
Lt Eduardo Lopez
Lt Lopez describes the exercise as "a great experience"
He takes his helmet off and joins several Italian fighter pilots who
have already gone below decks. The French air traffic controller who
brought them in is on the bridge talking to his British colleagues.
This is a sign of how Nato is changing. With the military forces of
Western nations stretched, particularly those of the US and UK,
flexibility and adaptability are becoming increasingly important.
"It's a great experience because right now all these countries are
working together. You realise you can operate as a joint force
community," says Spanish pilot Lt Eduardo Lopez <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7037100.stm>
US general damns Iraq 'nightmare'
Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez on Capitol Hill in May 2004
Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez said the US currently was only delaying defeat
A former US military chief in Iraq has condemned the current strategy
in the conflict, which he warned was "a nightmare with no end in sight".
Retired Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez also labelled US political leaders as "incompetent" and "corrupted".
He said they would have faced courts martial for dereliction of duty had they been in the military.
The best the US could manage under the current approach in Iraq was to "stave off defeat", Gen Sanchez warned. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7042805.stm>
US to investigate death of Iraqis
The US military has said it will investigate an operation in Iraq which
left 15 women and children dead, alongside 19 suspected militants.
The operation, north of Baghdad, is thought to have resulted one of the
biggest single losses of civilian life since the war began in 2003.
US officials said they would work with Iraqi officials and tribal leaders, and would provide a full account of events.
A US official said the soldiers were acting in self-defence.
The spokesman, Maj Brad Leighton, said the military regretted the loss
of innocent lives but he blamed insurgents for putting civilians in
danger. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7041708.stm>
Rice holds Russia rights meetings
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is meeting human rights
officials in Moscow as she continues a Russian visit that has so far
been coolly received.
Ms Rice has said she will discuss democracy in meetings that may add to tension with the Kremlin.
The US has accused President Vladimir Putin of rolling back democracy and trampling rights, charges he denies.
On Friday talks about US plans to base a missile shield in Eastern Europe ended acrimoniously. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7042822.stm>
US eyes boom in nuclear reactors
By Laura Smith-Spark, BBC News, Washington
Three Mile Island (file picture, 1996)
The Three Mile Island accident cast a shadow over the nuclear industry
Almost three decades have passed since the last application was filed
to build a new nuclear reactor in the US. Now, up to 30 are expected in
the next three years.
As time has passed, memories have faded of the 1979 radioactive leak at
the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania that threw the US
nuclear industry into disarray.
Meanwhile, energy security concerns and worries about climate change
have reshaped the debate, and financial incentives and a new licensing
process have altered the economics.
The first full application for two new reactors, in southern Texas, was submitted at the end of September.
Another four are due by the end of the year and a dozen in 2008, many
in south-eastern states, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) said.
The earliest could be in operation by 2015.
A range of factors is fuelling the renewed enthusiasm:
* The introduction of a new fast-track combined
construction and operation permit, making new reactors easier and
cheaper to build
* A tax credit, introduced in the 2005 Energy Policy
Act, of 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 6,000 megawatts
generated by nuclear plants
* Risk insurance adding up to $2bn for the first six
plants to be built, protecting companies against the cost of delays in
construction
* Multi-billion-dollar loan guarantees
* A likelihood that the cost of emitting CO2 will rise as the battle against climate change intensifies
But the impending flood of applications is fuelling a new row over
whether nuclear power represents a bold step to address 21st Century
needs or a mistaken return to flawed 20th Century technology. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7027147.stm>
Time for change in Australian politics?
UN envoy attacks Mid-East Quartet
By Tim Franks, BBC News, Jerusalem
John Dugard, UN special rapporteur on human rights for the Palestinian territories (file)
Mr Dugard presents independent reports on human rights to the UN
A top UN expert has said he will urge the world body to withdraw from
the Quartet of Middle East mediators unless it addresses Palestinian
human rights.
John Dugard, the UN human rights envoy for the Palestinian Territories,
told the BBC the US, EU, UN and Russia were failing to protect the
Palestinians.
He said the UN "does itself little good by remaining a member of the Quartet". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7044069.stm>
US army enlists anthropologists
By Kambiz Fattahi, BBC Persian Service, Washington
The Pentagon is pulling out all the stops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A US soldier guards an Iraqi family as their house is searched in Baquba, Iraq
The aim is to aid US soldiers' understanding of local cultures
It is sending "mine-resistant, ambush-protected" vehicles into the
battlefield. It is also using cutting-edge biometric technologies to
identify insurgents.
But that is not all. The US military has developed a new programme
known as the Human Terrain System (HTS) to study social groups in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
The HTS depends heavily on the co-operation of anthropologists, with
their expertise in the study of human beings and their societies.
Steve Fondacaro, a retired special operations colonel overseeing the HTS, is keen to recruit cultural anthropologists.
"Cultural anthropologists are focused on understanding how societies
make decisions and how attitudes are formed. They give us the best
vision to see the problems through the eyes of the target population,"
he said.
But very few anthropologists in the US are willing to wear a uniform and receive the mandatory weapons training.
In fact, a group known as the Network of Concerned Anthropologists has
already circulated a pledge of non-participation in the Pentagon's
counter-insurgency efforts. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7042090.stm>
Weighing US efforts for Mid-East peace
By Jonathan Beale, BBC News, Washington
It has been easy to express scepticism - even cynicism - about the Bush
administration's efforts to try to bring about peace in the Middle East.
Condoleezza Rice and Mahmoud Abbas
Condoleezza Rice is on her seventh trip to the Middle East this year
After all, this is an administration that throughout its entire first
term - and much of its second - has shown little sense of urgency.
There is suspicion too as to why the Bush administration has chosen to focus on the issue now. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7048132.stm>
Guards 'undermine' US Iraq aims
The activities of security contractors are "in conflict" with the US
military's mission in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said.
But he acknowledged that the US could not manage without contractors, except by diverting thousands of troops.
On Thursday, three Iraqis were injured when guards from a UK company fired into a taxi in Kirkuk in northern Ira.
Security firms are under scrutiny after 17 Iraqis died in a clash involving guards from the US firm Blackwater. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7052273.stm>
US religious right faces 2008 dilemma
By Laura Smith-Spark
BBC News, Washington
With only 75 days to go before elections to choose each party's
presidential candidate begin, America's religious conservatives face an
intractable dilemma.
Rudy Giuliani
Many social conservatives find Rudy Giuliani hard to support
Do they back the candidate they trust to promote the social values they
hold dear - or the one who stands the best chance of beating the
Democrats to the White House in 2008?
The Republican candidate currently leading national polls is former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
But his support for gay and abortion rights, not to mention his three
marriages, make him an unpalatable option for many social conservatives
who would usually vote Republican. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7053562.stm>
Airmen punished for nuclear error
A B-52 bomber at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. File pic
The missiles were mounted on the wings of a B-52 bomber
The US Air Force has relieved several officers of their commands after
a B-52 bomber was mistakenly flown across the US loaded with
nuclear-armed missiles.
Three colonels, a lieutenant colonel and 66 other personnel were
punished following the incident at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota,
on 29 August.
Maj Gen Richard Newton said ground crews had failed to follow procedures.
The incident has been described as one of the worst known breaches of nuclear weapons procedures in decades.
Six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads were mounted on the bomber's wings before it was flown to Louisiana.
The missiles were supposed to have been taken to Barksdale Air Force
Base, but the warheads should have been removed beforehand. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7053898.stm>
Indian-American wins in Louisiana
Bobby Jindal and his wife Supriya - 20/10/2007
Mr Jindal has promised to fight corruption in Louisiana
The US state of Louisiana has elected its first non-white governor, Bobby Jindal, since the 1870s.
Mr Jindal, 36, also becomes the youngest US governor and the first Indian-American to head a state.
The Republican took 54% of the vote to win outright over his nearest rival, Democrat Walter Boasso, who got 18%.
Outgoing Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco chose not to run again
after she was widely criticised for her handling of the 2005 Hurricane
Katrina crisis.
The Oxford-educated son of Indian immigrants, Mr Jindal narrowly lost the 2003 election to Ms Blanco.
In his victory speech, Mr Jindal repeated his election pledge to fight corruption in the state.
"They can either go quietly or they can go loudly, but either way they
will go," he said, referring to people who were "feeding at the public
trough".
He has also promised to cut taxes and improve education. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7054949.stm>
Calm returns to global exchanges
Share price board in Tokyo
The markets had fallen sharply on Monday
Calm has returned to global markets, with European shares opening
higher after earlier Asian gains and an overnight recovery on Wall
Street.
Despite ongoing concerns regarding the US economy, confidence has returned following strong results from Apple.
The computer firm posted a 67% rise in quarterly profit overnight.
London's main FTSE 100 index had added 74 points or 1.1% to 6,533 by
late morning, while Frankfurt's Dax was up 0.5%, and Paris' Cac had
gained 0.7%. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7057548.stm>
100 years after the 1907 credit crunch
By Jamie Robertson, Business presenter, BBC World
J Pierpont Morgan (Courtesy JPMorgan Chase Archives)
JP Morgan was later hailed as both hero and villain
Almost exactly 100 years ago at 4.45 in the morning of a November day
on the corner of Madison and 35th Street in New York a group of some 50
or so exhausted men stumbled out into the street.
Some had not slept for days.
Behind them, on the other side of the monumental brass doors that
closed behind them, they left a piece of paper which pledged them
collectively to a loan of some $25m - about $10bn (£5bn) in
today's money.
Beside it stood a large gentleman with a walrus moustache, who had
forced them into the deal which ended a two-week financial panic that
had come close to destroying New York's financial system. That man was
J Pierpont Morgan.
From 1903 to 1906 the global economy had boomed and the Dow Jones had doubled.
But the global supply of gold to which all hard currency was pegged had not kept pace, and hard cash was increasingly scarce.
A hundred years later our credit squeeze had its genesis in the infamous sub-prime mortgage market of the US. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7050529.stm>
Doubts over Bush plan on Mexico drugs
By Lourdes Heredia, BBC News, Washington
President George W Bush's request for $500m to help Mexico in its fight
against organised crime may run into opposition from more than one side.
A marijuana plant at a clandestine plantation near Acapulco, Mexico
Mexico's government has been cracking down on drugs traffickers
The money he has asked for from the US Congress would form part of a
comprehensive two-year plan, to be known as the "Merida Initiative".
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the name referred to the birth
of the idea at a meeting between Mr Bush and Mexican President Felipe
Calderon in the town of Merida last March.
Both governments appear to want to avoid using the name "Plan Mexico",
as the programme was dubbed by many observers ahead of Mr Bush's
official announcement on Monday.
That name refers to the anti-narcotics package the US established with Colombia in 2000, which has proved controversial.
Andrew Selee, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute,
told the BBC he believed the two governments wanted to avoid the name
so as not to prejudice either Congress or public opinion.
"The idea of comparing this package with Plan Colombia generates resistance in both countries," Mr Selee said.
"At least in the US, more and more voices question the effectiveness of the help that was given to Colombia."
Under Plan Colombia, an assistance programme that has made Bogota the
largest recipient of US aid in the western hemisphere, about $600m a
year goes to military operations and development projects in
drug-growing regions. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7057455.stm>
US reins in Iraq security firms
Activists pose as Blackwater security contractors for an anti-war protest on Capitol Hill on 22 October
The US anti-war movement has been mocking security contractors
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered new measures to
improve government oversight of private security contractors used in
Iraq.
It follows a review by an independent panel ordered after an incident
last month involving the US firm Blackwater, in which some 17 Iraqi
civilians died.
The steps include tightening the state department's rules of engagement so they are line with the military's.
Contractors will also have to undergo improved cultural awareness training.
There will also be better co-ordination with the US military and tighter restrictions on the use of force.
Boards will be set up to investigate any future killings involving
private contractors in Iraq, and will have to power to refer cases to
the US justice department.
Contractors will also have to have Arabic speakers on hand. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7059210.stm>
Dutch smash 'voodoo' child trade
Red Light district, Amsterdam
The children were allegedly trafficked into the sex industry
Police in the Netherlands say they have cracked a crime ring which
allegedly trafficked Nigerian children into the West to work as sex
slaves.
At least 19 people were arrested in the Netherlands and five other countries including the US and Britain.
Traffickers used voodoo to gain a hold over children before smuggling
them abroad in a racket which exploited the asylum system, police say.
Scores of underage Nigerians, mainly girls, may have been trafficked.
Dutch authorities had been investigating the disappearance of 140
Nigerian children from asylum-seeker holding centres since January 2006.
Several of the children were later found working as prostitutes in France, Italy and Spain, according to Dutch police. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7061145.stm>
Voyage into Iraq's Sunni centre
By Paul Wood, With the 101st Airborne, Iraq
I'm on a journey through Iraq's Sunni heartland with the soldiers of the 101st Airborne.
US soldiers stand by a car they have stopped on the roadside
US stop and search
Inch by inch, they check for roadside bombs.
It is slow going. After four hours, they still haven't found an IED, or improvised explosive device.
Then, they do. They have spotted a man running to a nearby village and
they give chase. He may be behind this attack - and others.
Suspicion falls on every male here. The risk for the US is that this
will create future enemies. But the head man says he feels safer with
the Americans around. It's the insurgents he fears, he tells me.
Eventually, he identifies one man as a stranger. When he tests positive for explosives, an arrest is made.
A soldier from the 101st Airborne
101st on patrol
Two roadside bomb attacks have been triggered from this village in just
a matter of days and, to the ordinary soldier, the IED threat seems as
dangerous as ever.
But senior commanders insist the number of attacks are falling because
ordinary Sunnis have decided to turn against the insurgency.
These men are central to US strategy. US commanders call them, without irony, the "Concerned Local Citizens".
They are recruited through Sunni tribal leaders, who are paid - some would say bribed - by the US to keep the peace.
But they work with the police and sometimes they have been known help the insurgents. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7063603.stm>
Nato stretch spurs force rethink
Nato exercises in Split, Croatia, earlier this month
Many Nato member nations are short on troops
Nato defence ministers have agreed to scale back ambitions for a
25,000-strong rapid reaction force to intervene in world crises.
Existing military commitments have sapped troop levels and prompted Nato members to withdraw force pledges.
Separately, Russia's defence minister told the meeting concerns about a
US missile shield remained, despite US attempts to allay Moscow's fears.
Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged both "friends" to keep talking.
The US has made several overtures to Moscow in its bid to smooth
Russian feathers ruffled by the plans for the defence system, part of
which would be based in Europe.
On Tuesday US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had said activation of the
European shield could be delayed until there was "definitive proof" of
a missile threat from states such as Iran.
Anatoly Serdyukov at the Nato meeting in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on Thursday
Anatoly Serdyukov was unconvinced, but said progress had been made
However on Thursday Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said
those efforts were not enough and Moscow was "sticking to its position".
But he said talks about the plans would continue.
"It seems to me that the Americans are starting to better understand our concerns and we welcome that," he said.
The US is currently negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic -
Russia's former Warsaw Pact allies - to base, respectively, 10
interceptors and a radar on their territories. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7062455.stm>
Rice pressed on Iraq 'corruption'
Condoleezza Rice
Ms Rice said wrongly accusing Iraqis of corruption could sour relations
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been pressed over claims
Iraq's prime minister is shielding officials from corruption
investigations.
Testifying to a House oversight panel, she was told Iraqi PM Nouri
Maliki had issued an order requiring his approval before any top
officials were charged.
Ms Rice said the claims were unverified - but added that the US would oppose any policy giving officials immunit.
The panel also queried the oversight of private security contractors in Iraq.
The Oversight and Government Reform Committee of the House of
Representatives, under Democratic chairman Henry Waxman, has been keen
to question Ms Rice over US operations in Iraq.
Her testimony before the panel came a day after a senior state
department official resigned amid heavy criticism of the way foreign
private security firms in Iraq are supervised. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7062773.stm>
Hague probes Karadzic 'deal' claim
The chief prosecutor for the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague says
Europe's most wanted man, Radovan Karadzic, has "gone off the radar
screen" and no one knows where he is.
There has been speculation for some time that a secret deal may have
been done between Mr Karadzic - the Bosnian Serb wartime leader - and
US officials at the end of the Bosnian War.
Now The Hague has asked prosecutors in Serbia to examine the claims. The BBC's Nick Hawton investigates.
In a restaurant in Belgrade, Vladimir Nadezdin greets me with a smile and offers me coffee.
Slobodan Milosevic (left) and Richard Holbrooke at Dayton, Ohio in 1995
Mr Holbrooke helped bring Milosevic to the 1995 Dayton talks
A former senior official in the government of ex-Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, he says he saw a document relating to the deal,
signed by Mr Karadzic and the American negotiator, Richard Holbrooke.
"It was in 1995, the meeting took place in the Serbian presidency," Mr Nadezdin tells me.
"The piece of paper was in A4 format with the official logo of the
Bosnian Serb Republic [Republika Srpska] and the president of the
republic," he says.
"The first point was about Mr Karadzic giving up his political
functions, the second one was about his withdrawal from party functions.
"The third one was about the withdrawal from the public life, and the
last one, which was the most important one, was that Radovan Karadzic
would not be under the jurisdiction of The Hague," Mr Nadezdin says.
My father... told us that he finally made a deal and that now he didn't have to be worried about The Hague anymore
Daughter of Radovan Karadzic
Richard Holbrooke was the chief US negotiator who, through a
combination of cajoling and energetic shuttle diplomacy, helped bring
the warring sides together to sign the Dayton peace agreement in
December 1995, which ended the Bosnian War.
He had a reputation for hard negotiating and not always using orthodox methods.
But the document that Mr Nadezdin describes has never been produced. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7062288.stm>
Italians 'cannot try US soldier'
Nicola Calipari's death was mourned across Italy
An Italian court has thrown out a case against a US soldier charged
over the killing of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq in March 2005.
The court ruled that Italy had no jurisdiction in the case against Mario Lozano, who was on trial in absentia.
The agent, Nicola Calipari, was shot dead on his way to Baghdad airport
after securing the release of a kidnapped Italian reporter.
Spc Lozano denies any wrongdoing, saying he had no choice but to fire.
His defence lawyers argued that an Italian court had no right to try
Spc Lozano as soldiers in Iraq were under the exclusive jurisdiction of
their own country.
The ruling by the Rome judge can be appealed. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7061731.stm>
Troops assessed for brain injury
The Mercian Regiment in Afghanistan
The full assessment will be rolled out in the New Year
Troops exposed to explosions in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be checked for brain injury, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
The MoD said questionnaires had been sent to troops to see if they had signs of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
The survey was triggered by fears in the US Army that up to 20% of soldiers were returning with the condition.
Symptoms include memory loss, anxiety and depression. In 90% of cases they disappear within three months. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7065018.stm>
Congo peacekeepers stuck in middle
By Karen Allen
BBC News, eastern DR Congo
Checkpoint culture is deeply entrenched in North Kivu. To move anywhere
out of the provincial capital, Goma, requires tolerance, tenacity and
time.
UN peacekeepers
The UN peacekeeping force is large, but still overstretched
If you are lucky the troops manning the checkpoints will be sober.
If you are not, then you had better hope that your paperwork is in
order, and the weapon slung over the shoulder of the soldier trying to
squeeze another dollar out of you, is pointing away from your vehicle -
especially as the gunman in question is probably just 15.
You would think that the peacekeepers of the United Nations Mission in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) would escape such challenges.
But that is not always so.
In a UN convoy of nearly a dozen vehicles trying to move beyond Sake -
a flashpoint during the fighting in September just beyond Goma - my car
was plucked out, isolated, and turned around.
It's a question of resources, troops cannot be deployed everywhere
Maj Gen Bikram Singh,
peacekeepers' commander
It was a move clearly designed to humiliate the UN, as much as ourselves.
Though it all came right in the end, it demonstrates the precarious
relationship between the peacekeepers and government forces - troops,
many of them once militiamen, rounded up like cats and fashioned into a
regular army.
For the UN peacekeepers, the biggest success has undoubtedly been last year's elections.
But in the turbulent region of North Kivu, politics has delivered a
terrible irony. Democracy has helped fan the flames of violence. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7064497.stm>
Washington diary: Oil shock
By Matt Frei
BBC News, Washington
Remember those heady days of spring 2005, when the price of a barrel of light crude busted $50?
Sign at a petrol station in Maine
Petrol prices are rising in the US - but there have been no riots yet
It seemed like a historic milestone to somewhere unpleasant, but no-one was quite sure where.
Doomsayers with strong stomachs dared to look into a future. "What
would happen if there was all out war with Iran?" they were asked.
Well, for one, oil could top $100 a barrel. Just imagine.
"Don't be absurd!" "Never! Not in your worst dreams!" That was the
chorus of rebuttal from a phalanx of realists grounded in sound
economics.
The doomsayers were indeed wrong.
On Monday, oil rose to $93 a barrel, only seven bucks short of its
cataclysmic, futuristic high, and the world is still standing, we are
not at war with Iran (yet) and there are no riots at my local petrol
station. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7070346.stm>
Does New Zealand face a terror threat?
By Colin Peacock, Wellington, New Zealand
Tame Iti, pictured in 2004
Arrested Maori activist Tame Iti is regarded as non-violent
After the US was attacked on 11 September 2001, governments around the
world adopted new laws to combat terrorism. New Zealand was one of them.
Like other nations, it wanted to be ready in case foreign terrorist groups entered the country.
But it was New Zealanders who were arrested when the Terrorism Suppression Act was used for the first time.
Armed police carried out raids throughout the country in the early
hours of 16 October, after discovering what they said was a secret
paramilitary-style training camp in a remote part of the country's
north-east.
Police said they seized guns, ammunition and molotov cocktails, and
they even said some of those arrested had detonated a napalm bomb a
week earlier.
All this was shocking news in New Zealand, which has no experience of armed insurrection in its modern history.
In fact it has barely had any experience of serious political violence at all. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7062341.stm>
US army contracting alarms panel
US army soldiers in Iraq
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched US armed forces
An independent panel has strongly criticised the way the US army manages contracts to supply its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The panel said there were high levels of fraud and waste in relation to contracts worth $4bn (£1.9bn) a year.
It blamed a lack of oversight and said only about half the army's contracting staff were properly qualified.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he was "dismayed" by the report and the Pentagon would pursue its suggestions.
The army says it is pursuing 83 criminal inquiries related to contract
fraud and more than $15m dollars in bribes have been exposed.
The panel did not address specific allegations against individuals, but
made clear that a lack of oversight and too few army contracting
personnel had exacerbated systemic problems.
This is a systemic issue within the army
Jacques Gansler
Former US undersecretary of defence
The number of army personnel responsible for managing contracts in
Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan dropped as the number of contracts and
their value soared over 12 years, the panel found. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7074285.stm>
Nazi stolen art books given to US
Assistant archivist Michael Kurtz announces the donation of the albums, 1 November 2007
The Nazis catalogued art stolen from their victims
Two photo albums showing art looted by the Nazis during World War II are being donated to the US National Archives.
The leather-bound albums contain photos from which Hitler and his curators could choose art for the Fuhrer's art museum in Linz.
They were created by a special unit set up in 1940 to collect works of art from territories under occupation.
A US archivist said the discovery of the albums could help locate looted works of art that remain missing.
Allen Weinstein called the discovery "one of the most significant
finds" related to Hitler's premeditated theft of art and other cultural
treasures since the Nuremberg trials.
"It is exciting to know that original documents shedding light on this
important aspect of World War II are still being located, especially so
because of the hundreds of thousands of cultural items stolen from
victims of Hitler and the Nazis that are still missing," he said,
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7074894.stm>
Iraq war source's name revealed
A US TV network has revealed the name of "Curveball" - an Iraqi man
whose information was central to the US government's argument to invade
Iraq.
The CBS show 60 Minutes identifies him as Iraqi defector Rafid Ahmed Alwan.
The programme says he arrived in a German refugee centre in 1999 where
he lied to win asylum and was not the chemical expert he said he was.
His claims of mobile bio-weapons labs in Saddam Hussein's Iraq were
backed until well after the 2003 invasion............. Back in November
2005, Col Lawrence Wilkerson, the chief of staff to Mr Powell, told the
BBC's Carolyn Quinn he was aware the Germans had said that they had
told the CIA of the unreliability.
"And then you begin to speculate, you begin to wonder was this
intelligence spun; was it politicised; was it cherry-picked; did in
fact the American people get fooled?," Col Wilkerson said.
A presidential intelligence commission into the matter found that Curveball was a liar and an alcoholic. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7075501.stm>
Hiroshima bomb pilot dies aged 92
Gen Paul Tibbets (centre)
Gen Tibbets (centre) always said he had no regrets
Tibbets on Hiroshima
The commander of the B-29 plane that dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima in Japan, has died.
Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr died at his home in Columbus, Ohio, aged 92.
The five-ton "Little Boy" bomb was dropped on the morning of 6 August
1945, killing about 140,000 Japanese, with many more dying later.
On the 60th anniversary of the bombing, the three surviving crew
members of the Enola Gay - named after Tibbet's mother - said they had
"no regrets". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7073441.stm>
US 'to help Turkey combat rebels'
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and George W Bush meet at the White House, 5 Nov 2007
Mr Erdogan and Mr Bush spoke of closer ties between their countries
US President George W Bush has promised extra help to tackle Kurdish
rebels in northern Iraq, following talks with Turkish PM Recep Tayyip
Erdogan.
Mr Bush offered to share intelligence with Turkey and declared the PKK
rebel organisation "an enemy of Turkey, a free Iraq and the United
States".
Turkey has threatened to hit bases used by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) unless the US and Iraq do more to help.
Washington has urged Ankara not to launch cross-border strikes into Iraq.
US officials fear such action could destabilise northern Iraq, up to now the most stable region of the country. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7079391.stm>
EU lays out anti-terror proposals
Aircraft in clouds near Nice
EU proposals to collect passenger data mirror US measures
The European Commission is proposing anti-terrorism measures that
include the collection of extensive flight data and tighter internet
laws.
Under the plan, all 27 EU members would make recruitment, training and provocation to terrorism illegal.
The plan also provides for an early warning system if legal explosives are lost or stolen.
It criticises some countries for not doing enough to co-ordinate their laws after agreeing to do so five years ago.
The plan gives special attention to the internet.
Setting up web sites that encourage violence or explain how to make bombs would become a criminal offence.
The plan also focuses on air passenger data, requiring EU states to
collect 19 pieces of personal information about people flying to or
from member states.
The information would include a phone number, e-mail address and payment details, and would be kept on file for 13 years. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7080298.stm>
Pakistan crisis tests US policy
By Jonathan Beale, BBC News, Washington
President Musharraf and President Bush
The US has been measured in its criticism of President Musharraf
This is a dilemma that US President George W Bush would rather have avoided.
But events in Pakistan have forced the president to weigh up his two
key foreign policy commitments: fighting the "global war on terror" and
his promise to spread democracy and freedom.
As far as Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is concerned the US cannot have both - at least not yet.
Gen Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency is a key test of US priorities.
And at the moment it appears that stability and having an ally in the
fight against extremism is just as important as pressing ahead with
elections.
So the criticisms of Pakistan's leader from the White House have been measured and careful. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7080272.stm>
Coal conversion dilemma for US
Climate change demo at G8 Summit 2007
Climate change protestors are upping the pressure on the US
The US is the world's greatest per capita emitter of carbon dioxide
with each US citizen responsible for 20 tonnes of gas annually - the
world average is less than four.
As global warming campaigners increase pressure on the White House to
cut emissions, policymakers in the US have other concerns: they say
there is a threat not just from climate security but from what is known
as energy security.
"We're expending tens of billions of dollars annually on the purchase
of oil from other countries," explained Congressman Rich Boucher, a
member of Congress's Energy and Commerce Committee.
"Most of those dollars flow to places that are not particularly
friendly to the United States. This would be the Middle East primarily.
"I think our national security is affected because we simply can't
offend; we have to encourage the continued flow of oil to this country."
Congressman Boucher believes it is vital the US achieves a higher
degree of energy self sufficiency for security and economic reasons.
It [coal] is the foundation for about half the electricity generation
in the US today and we don't have other readily available fuel
alternatives
Congressman Rick Boucher
America has a plentiful source of domestic energy - coal. Half of the
US's electricity comes from coal-fired power stations, but amid the
political debate over climate change the fuel is not seen as
eco-friendly. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/7079318.stm>
US warms to new French flavour
As US President George W Bush welcomes his French counterpart Nicolas
Sarkozy on his first official visit to the US, the BBC's Justin Webb
charts recent relations between the two countries. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7080019.stm>
New US attorney general confirmed
Judge Michael Mukasey is sworn in before his Senate committee hearing last month
Mr Mukasey was confirmed by a 53-40 vote
The US Senate has confirmed Michael Mukasey as the new attorney general.
The vote came despite misgivings from some senators who were unhappy at
his answers over what constituted torture in the questioning of terror
suspects.
Mr Mukasey refused to be drawn into a condemnation of so-called waterboarding, a controversial interrogation technique.
The vote was carried by 53 to 40 in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and Mr Mukasey will replace Alberto Gonzalez. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7086310.stm>
Chavez meets Colombia Farc rebels
File photograph of Hugo Chavez
President Chavez said talks with the rebels would continue
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has held fresh talks with high level
representatives of the Colombian left-wing rebel movement, the Farc.
The meeting involved Ivan Marquez, an envoy of the Farc leader Manuel Marulanda, and was held in Caracas.
Mr Marquez said if Mr Chavez and Mr Marulanda could meet it would remove some obstacles to a prisoner swap.
Mr Chavez said such a meeting was on the agenda, but a time and place had not yet been decided.
"Today I'm more optimistic than ever over this humanitarian exchange issue," Mr Chavez said.
Mr Marquez said a future meeting could possibly take place in
Colombia's El Yari region, where Mr Marulanda is thought to be hiding
out, in the jungle near Colombia's borders with Venezuela and Brazil.
Colombia gave its blessing to Mr Chavez's talks, in an effort to secure
the release of around 50 high-profile prisoners being held by the Farc,
but has not authorised a meeting on Colombian soil.
The Farc wants 500 rebel prisoners freed in exchange for the hostages who have been held for years in jungle camps.
They include French-Colombian citizen and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, and three US defence contractors.
Mr Chavez said Farc fighters had been ordered to give proof that the hostages are still alive. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7084347.stm>
Japan extends parliament session
A Japanese supply ship refuels a Pakistani destroyer, Sept 2007
Japan's refuelling mission has proved controversial at home
Japan's parliament has extended its current session as the government
tries to push through a law to renew support for a US-led mission in
Afghanistan.
Parliament will now meet well into December in an effort to resolve a stalemate on the issue.
Japan withdrew ships from Afghan naval operations earlier this month because the mandate ran out without a deal.
US defence secretary Robert Gates, who is currently in Tokyo, has encouraged Japan to keep supporting the operation. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7087733.stm>
Optimism grows in Iraq
By Jim Muir
BBC News, Baghdad
Neighbourhood guards pass US soldiers in Baghdad 10/11/2007
US forces have recruited thousands of young Iraqi men for local policing
Is Iraq getting better? The statistics say so, across the board.
Over the past three months, there has been a sharp and sustained drop
in all forms of violence. The figures for dead and wounded, military
and civilian, have also greatly improved.
All across Baghdad, which has seen the worst of the violence, streets
are springing back to life. Shops and restaurants which closed down are
back in business.
People walk in crowded streets in the evening, when just a few months
ago they would have been huddled behind locked doors in their homes.
Everybody agrees that things are much better.
But is the improvement only skin deep? And will it last once the
American troops, whose "surge" has clearly made a difference, begin to
scale down? <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7089168.stm>
US Navy in Kenya goodwill mission
Spring forward, fall back
Setting the clocks back in Florida
A POINT OF VIEW
By Lisa Jardine
We think of time as tied to the seasons, but politicians have been
tinkering with clocks and calendars for centuries. George Bush is the
latest to do so. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7087502.stm>
Hidden costs 'raise US war price'
US troops in Iraq - 8/11/2007
US Democrats say the wars are costing the US too much
The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing nearly double the
amount previously thought, according to a report set to be released by
Congress.
Democrats say the wars have cost $1.5 trillion - almost twice the
requested $804bn (£402bn) - because of "hidden costs", the
Washington Post reports.
That figure would amount to $20,000 for an average US family of four, it adds.
And some of the figures cited in the report were labelled speculative by funding experts, the Post says.
Among the indicators contributing to the higher cost of the conflicts are higher oil costs and payments to war veterans. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7092053.stm>
1991: US accuses Libyans of Lockerbie bombing
Two Libyan intelligence officers have been accused of masterminding the Lockerbie bombing.
The United States has called on Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi to hand
over the two men, Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa
Fhimah.
The men have been indicted in the US on 193 charges, including three which carry the death penalty.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for the two Libyans in Scotland
on charges of murder and conspiracy in relation to bombing of Pan Am
flight 103 in December 1988.
The plane was en route from London to New York when it exploded over
Lockerbie in Scotland, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on
the ground.
President George Bush is to consult British Prime Minister John Major
and other world leaders over the next few days to decide the
international response.
In Context
Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah were not brought to trial for another decade.
After years of wrangling, Colonel Gaddafi finally allowed them to be tried in a neutral country under Scottish law.
In January 2001 Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was jailed for life following an 84-day trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.
His alleged accomplice, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was found not guilty.
Al-Megrahi is serving his sentence at Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow,
Scotland in a specially-built isolation unit, dubbed "Gaddafi's Café".
In 2002 his appeal against conviction was rejected.
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/14/newsid_2518000/2518895.stm>
Political delay on Iraq death row
By Jim Muir, BBC News, Baghdad
In prison cells guarded by American forces near Baghdad, the notorious
"Chemical Ali" and two other former top officials in Saddam Hussein's
regime wait, never knowing when the doors will open and they will be
handed over to the Iraqi government for execution.
Ali Hassan al-Majid known as 'Chemical Ali' hears the verdict in his trial on 24 June 2007
'Chemical Ali' was sentenced to death in June 2007
It should have happened more than a month ago. The fact that it did not
has stirred a tense row between the US embassy and Prime Minister Nouri
Maliki's administration.
Both sides are locked in their positions and refusing to budge.
"We insist that the law be implemented and that these men be handed
over in accordance with the law," said Prime Minister Maliki.
"The parties concerned were asked to hand over the prisoners but
unfortunately the US embassy also played a role in preventing their
delivery, or trying to hand over some while delaying others. We will
not retreat from this position."
The American embassy and officials of the US-led Multinational Forces (MNF) were equally unyielding.
"There are discussions going on within the government of Iraq over procedures," said an embassy spokesman.
"Until that is resolved, the Multinational Forces will continue to
retain physical custody of the convicts. It is imperative the correct
procedural steps be followed. They need to come to consensus."
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7093759.stm>
US envoy hits out at Burma junta
Burma's military rulers are no closer to accepting democratic reform, the US envoy to the United Nations has said.
Zalmay Khalilzad was responding to a report from the UN special envoy
to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, who said the generals were making concrete
changes.
Burma's envoy to the UN, Kyaw Tint Swe, said it was "disappointing" that people "continue to express scepticism".
The row came before a major gem sale in Rangoon - a key source of revenue for the junta.
Human rights groups have called for a boycott of the two-week sale. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7093716.stm>
US facing new Iraq funding row
A US soldier on patrol in Baquba, Iraq
The Democrats want to tie funding to a timetable for troop withdrawal
The US House of Representatives has voted to approve a $50bn
(£24bn) war funding bill which could set the stage for a showdown
with the White House.
If enacted, the measure would require President Bush to start
withdrawing troops from Iraq within 30 days, with a goal of ending
combat in December 2008.
The bill, which gives only $50bn, not the $200bn requested for a full year's funds, also sets rules against torture.
Mr Bush has said he will veto the measure if it passes House and Senate.
Although the legislation has been approved by the House of
Representatives, it will probably fall short of the 60 votes needed to
beat a filibuster in the Senate.
Previous Democratic-led attempts to attach conditions to war funding
have failed because the party could not muster the two-thirds majority
needed to overcome a presidential veto.
However, even if the latest funding bill is only delayed, it will mean
the Pentagon will have to start moving money earmarked for other areas
to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7095439.stm>
Australians named worst emitters
Power station chimney (Image: PA)
The inventory lists CO2 emissions from more than 4,000 companies
A study of the world's power stations has shown the extent to which
developed countries produce more carbon dioxide per head than emerging
economies.
Australians were found to be the world's worst polluters per capita,
producing five times as much carbon from generating power as China.
The US came second with eight tonnes of carbon per head - 16 times more than that produced by India.
The US also produced the most carbon in total, followed by China.
The Carbon Monitoring for Action (Carma) website is the first global inventory of emissions and looks at 50,000 power stations.
Its data was compiled by the Center for Global Development, a US think-tank. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7092989.stm>
US hedges its bets on Musharraf
By Brajesh Upadhyay, BBC News, Washington
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
Ms Rice says the US is prodding Pakistan towards a democratic path
Speaking with more than one tongue is never an easy task. For the Bush
administration, it seems, that is the only available option on Pakistan
for now.
Pakistan-watchers in Washington suggest that the administration's
patience is wearing thin and every day that Gen Pervez Musharraf
refuses to back down on the state of emergency places him in direct
conflict with the US.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is being sent to Pakistan later this week to try to defuse the crisis.
Yet, officials carry on issuing measured responses to the events in
Pakistan, even arguing for patience towards the country's military
ruler.
"It's a real fine dance," says George Perkovich, a South Asia expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
In the coming days if it looks like Gen Musharraf is on his way out,
the administration will distance itself from him - but if they feel
he's got another life they will try not to alienate him, he says. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7093891.stm>
Guantanamo manual leaked on web
US guards at Guantanamo Bay prison - 9/10/2007
The manual prohibits abuse or corporal punishment of prisoners
A US military operating manual for the Guantanamo prison camp dating from 2003 has been released on the internet
The 238-page manual gives precise instructions for guards on handling prisoners and running the camp.
The US military said the manual seemed authentic but was out of date and should not have been publicly released.
About 340 prisoners are still held at Guantanamo, which was opened in
2002 to detain people suspected of terrorism or links to al-Qaeda or
the Taleban.
Allegations of abuse at the camp have been lodged by detainees, their lawyers and human rights groups.
Calls from both within the US and around the world to close the camp have gone unanswered. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7095986.stm>
Japan emperor's woe over US fish
Bluegill fish
The bluegill wiped out the Japanese royal bitterling
Japan's Emperor Akihito has said he "feels pained" that he introduced
an aggressive non-native species of fish to Japan nearly 50 years ago.
Several bluegill fish were given to the emperor during a visit to the US.
He hoped the fish could be bred for food but some escaped from research
centres and have now spread through Japan, threatening native species.
The emperor urged an audience of marine experts to take measures to protect native species. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7094048.stm>
Past echoes in Japan-US summit
By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Tokyo
Yasuo Fukuda (file image)
The Japanese prime minister is making his first visit to Washington
Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will arrive at the White House for
his meeting with President Bush 30 years after his father, also prime
minister, took part in a similar summit.
In March 1977, Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda met President Carter at a
time when there was a huge trade imbalance in Japan's favour.
The US economy was stagnating. Disgruntled workers were attacking Toyota cars and other Japanese imports.
Today, as the US ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer likes to point
out, Toyota employs more Americans than American companies like Texas
Instruments or Cisco Systems.
"You don't have the antipathy towards the Japanese that you might have
had in the 70s and 80s," he says, adding that opinion polls in Japan
show consistently that Americans are their "favourite foreigners".
The US protects Japan - a treaty obligation guarantees that it will defend it in the event of an attack.
In return it gets bases in Asia where tens of thousands of troops are
stationed, the majority of them on the southern Japanese island of
Okinawa.
And their two economies are integrated much more closely than they were
30 years ago - so much so that the problems in the sub-prime mortgage
sector and the repercussions on Wall Street have had a serious knock-on
effect on the Nikkei index of leading shares, and damaged the share
prices and the reputations of some of the country's biggest banks.
So, as current Prime Minister Fukuda sits down for talks with President Bush, what are the issues at stake? <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7095971.stm>
Jihad and the Saudi petrodollar
BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy has spent the last two months
investigating Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia's austere brand of Islam.
In the first of a two-part series, to be broadcast on the BBC World
Service, he looks at the fierce debate over whether Wahhabism and Saudi
petrodollars have fomented extremism.
Saudis released from the US-run prison at Guantanamo Bay
Saudis feature heavily among those accused of anti-US terrorism
"The essence of Wahhabism is purity," says Lawrence Wright, author of a Pulitzer-prize-winning book about al-Qaeda.
"They are only interested in purification - and that's what makes them so repressive."
Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former head of Saudi intelligence and
former ambassador in London and Washington, dismisses the accusation
out of hand.
"From our point of view in the kingdom, there is no such thing as Wahhabism. That's a canard."
Saudis have never cared for the "Wahhabi" label which historically was a term of abuse applied to them by their critics.
They are highly sensitive to the charge that they have used their vast
oil wealth to turn an obscure desert sect into a global force. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7093423.stm>
US accused of killing Iraq allies
US soldier and helicopter near Taji - file photo dated 5/6/2007
The US said its forces were looking for senior al-Qaeda members
Leaders of a Sunni tribal group in Iraq formed to fight al-Qaeda say
dozens of their men were killed by US forces in a battle north of the
capital, Baghdad.
One of the leaders of the Taji Awakening Council said airstrikes killed 45 of his pro-US fighters.
The US military said coalition forces killed 25 suspected insurgents in
the Taji area at the same time in an operation targeting al-Qaeda
leaders.
A US statement said arms, including anti-aircraft weapons, had been found.<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7096755.stm>
US tells Musharraf to step back
John Negroponte, 18 November 2007
Mr Negroponte urged Gen Musharraf to quit his army post swiftly
US envoy's warning
A senior US envoy has urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to
lift emergency rule and free opponents ahead of elections due in
January.
"Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible
elections," said John Negroponte, a day after meeting the Pakistani
leader.
Gen Musharraf imposed emergency rule two weeks ago following growing opposition and unrest.
He has insisted it can only be lifted once the security situation improves.
Mr Negroponte, the US deputy secretary of state, said he had urged Gen
Musharraf to stick to his pledge to step down as head of the army, and
encouraged him to release political prisoners.
"Recent political actions against protesters, suppression of the media
and the arrests of political and human rights leaders, runs directly
counter to reforms that have been undertaken in recent years," he said.
However, the US envoy praised Gen Musharraf as a valued ally in the war
on terror and welcomed the Pakistani leader's promise to hold elections
on 9 January. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7100322.stm>
Bodies found in Iraq mass killing
An Iraqi policeman puts a bag with human remains in a coffin in Baghdad
Iraqis who have lost relatives gathered to try to identify remains
The badly decomposed remains of about 30 people have been discovered by
Iraqi police on the outskirts of a mainly Sunni district in southern
Baghdad.
Police estimated that the victims were killed at least six months ago.
US troops have recently taken control of Doura district, which was
previously dominated by a Sunni militant group linked to al-Qaeda.
It is the third such mass grave to be uncovered this month in the capital, according to US and Iraqi forces.
Dozens of bodies have been found in areas west and north of Baghdad
where US forces are conducting campaigns to destroy al-Qaeda and
related groups.
Meanwhile, the US military says its forces have killed at least six gunmen in raids in the centre and north of Iraq. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7099954.stm>
Opec pledges reliable oil supply
Chavez (2nd L) at the Opec summit 17 Nov
The summit is Opec's third in 47 years
Opec leaders have pledged to provide the world with reliable supplies
of oil and fight global warming, at the end of a rare summit meeting.
The group's final statement made no mention of calls by oil-consuming
countries such as the US to raise production to ease sky-high prices.
The sliding dollar was not mentioned in the communique.
Venezuela's president had opened the summit with a warning that oil prices could double if the US attacked Iran.
Oil has been hitting record peaks of well over $90 a barrel as markets
believe the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will not
boost production.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the price of crude could reach $150 or even $200 a barrel.
The fall of the dollar, which has weakened considerably against the
euro and other currencies in the past 12 months, has affected the
revenues of Opec members because most of them price and sell their oil
exports in the US currency.
The issue is also political, with Iran keen to undermine the US currency.
The summit in Saudi Arabia is only Opec's third in 47 years.
Political agenda
The summit saw differences about the future direction of the exporters' group.
President Chavez and his Ecuadorean counterpart, Rafael Correa, whose
country rejoined Opec at the summit, had both pleaded for a more
political agenda for the group, but ran into opposition from US ally
Saudi Arabia. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7100696.stm>
Iraq reporter faces terror charge
Bilal Hussein
Bilal Hussein was part of an AP team which won the Pulitzer prize
The US military says it will recommend criminal charges against an
Associated Press photographer detained in 2006 on suspicion of helping
Iraqi insurgents.
The Pentagon says additional evidence has come to light proving Bilal
Hussein is a "terrorist media operative" who infiltrated the news
agency.
The case will be passed to Iraqi judges who will decide if he should be tried.
AP says its own investigation has found no evidence that he was anything but an Iraqi journalist working in a war zone.
The agency's lawyers say they have been denied access to Mr Hussein and
the evidence against him, making it impossible to build a defence.
Whenever we ask to see what's so convincing we get back something that isn't convincing at all
AP lawyer Dave Tomlin
Mr Hussein was part of an AP photo team that won a Pulitzer prize in 2005.
US officials say he had previously aroused suspicion because he was often at the scene insurgent attacks as they occurred. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7103239.stm>
Bush 'involved' in CIA leak case
Valerie Plame (file picture)
Ms Plame said Mr McClellan's excerpt was "shocking"
A former White House press secretary has said the US president was
involved in misinforming the public over the leaking of a CIA agent's
identity.
In an excerpt from his book, Scott McClellan says George W Bush helped
mislead the public over the role in the affair of two White House aides.
The CIA agent, Valerie Plame, says her identity was leaked because her diplomat husband opposed the Iraq war.
The White House said Mr Bush would not ask anyone to pass false information. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7105001.stm>
Japan workers strike at US bases
File image of a US fighter landing at Kadena base, Okinawa, Japan
The US has several bases in Japan, including on the island of Okinawa
Thousands of Japanese support workers at US military bases across Japan have taken part in a strike over a planned pay cut.
The workers carried out a half-day nationwide walkout in response to a proposal to reduce their benefits.
The staff are paid by the government in Tokyo, which wants to cut costs.
It is the first such strike since 1991, but a US military official said
that critical operations at bases were not being affected.
About 50,000 US military personnel are stationed at bases in Japan,
which covers some of the costs under a bilateral deal. Union leaders
said workers - who do jobs such as cleaning, restaurant work and
maintenance - were being asked to accept a 10% pay cut.
The strike showed workers would not accept one-sided changes to their working conditions, union chairman Kazuo Yamakawa said.
The US supported workers' "peaceful exercise of their legal rights", a US military official said. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7105261.stm>
Rice sets Mid-East peace target
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (file)
Ms Rice said the talks at Annapolis represented a "big step forward"
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the United States will
try to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians over the
next year.
Ms Rice said both sides had agreed to work towards the establishment of
an independent Palestinian state before US President George W Bush
leaves office.
She also said Washington hoped such negotiations would be launched at next week's peace conference in Annapolis.
Invitations have been issued to Israel, the Palestinians and key Arab states.
President Bush will have separate talks with both the Israeli and
Palestinian leaders at the White House before the conference begins on
Tuesday. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7106252.stm>
UN uncertainty over nuclear IranBushehr nuclear reactor
Iran says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes
Iran's track record of hiding nuclear activities means the UN cannot be
sure about what Iran is doing now, the head of the UN's nuclear
watchdog has said.
Mohamed ElBaradei was speaking as the IAEA's governing board met in Vienna.
Last week, he said Iran had been more open about its past, but still enriched uranium in defiance of the UN.
Western countries are seeking further sanctions fearing Iran's
programme is not peaceful. Iran says it co-operates and there is no
need for sanctions.
'Especially crucial'
Mr ElBaradei told the meeting the IAEA was "unable to provide credible
assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and
activities.
We will continue this mood of co-operation provided that international
community ... prevent the United States or others to make noise and
create problems
Ali Ashgar Soltanieh
Iranian IAEA ambassador
"This is especially crucial in the case of Iran because of its history
of undeclared activities, and the corresponding need to restore
confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme," he said.
The IAEA is meeting to discuss what to do about Iran, and in
particular, whether to move towards imposing tougher sanctions on it,
as some Western states want.
The US and its European allies who are permanent members of the UN
Security Council - France and Britain - fear Tehran is enriching
uranium in order to build nuclear weapons, and are pushing for a third
round of UN sanctions.
IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei - 14/11/2007
Mr ElBaradei said Iran's past history of hiding counted against it
Russia and China, the other two permanent members of the Security
Council, are reluctant to pursue sanctions, saying further negotiations
are needed.
Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, told the meeting
Tehran was co-operating with the IAEA. He warned that new UN sanctions
would be counter-productive.
"We will continue this mood of co-operation provided that international
community and peace-loving countries prevent the United States or
others to make noise and create problems and jeopardise this
constructive approach," he said. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7106796.stm>
The long shadow of Vietnam
By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent
More than 30 years after the Vietnam War ended, the Veterans' Memorial
in Washington DC remains a place of pilgrimage and remembrance.
Vietnam war veterans memorial in Washington DC
The US president initially denied any parallels between the two wars
The memorial, a long black granite wall set into a grassy bank, carries
the names of more than 58,000 Americans killed or missing in the
conflict.
This compares with some 4,000 combat deaths in Iraq.
But, inevitably, comparisons are being made between the two conflicts.
In some ways the similarities are obvious.
There is the sense of a war entered into under false pretences.
There is the feeling of being bogged down in a conflict with no obvious end in sight.
And, just as in Vietnam, there is the fear that the very nature of the conflict has been misunderstood. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7109929.stm>
'Shia militia' behind Iraq blast
The Ghazil pet market bombing in Baghdad on 23 November 2007
At least 13 people were killed and dozens hurt in the blast
A US military spokesman in Iraq has blamed Iranian-backed Shia
militants for a bomb attack on a pet market in Baghdad that killed at
least 13 people.
The bomb, hidden in a box of birds at the popular Ghazil market, also injured dozens on Friday.
Rear Adm Gregory Smith said four people had been arrested overnight and
that confessions pointed to an Iranian-backed special groups cell.
He said the cell wanted the blame to fall on Sunni al-Qaeda militants. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7110988.stm>
Yemen's tenuous grip on stability
By Brian Barron, BBC News, Sanaa
Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world the Yemen
Republic is trying to develop tourism. After an al-Qaeda suicide
bombing in the summer these plans suffered a setback and the future for
the country is far from certain.
Members of Yemen's counter-terrorism unit (Photo: Khaled Fazaa/AFP/Getty Images)
Yemen is strengthening its security with its Counter Terrorism Unit
If you ever go to Yemen, mind your feet.
I was reduced literally to my uppers the other day running across a
volcanic plateau in pursuit of British military instructors coaching
Yemen's Counter Terrorist Unit, the CTU.
As the paramilitary fighters were firing real bullets at pop-up targets it was best to be well back.
But when the chase was over I found my shoe heels had vanished and the
soles had been shredded like spaghetti by sharp rocks. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7107203.stm>
Archbishop launches attack on US
Dr Rowan Williams
Dr Williams says Western modernity 'eats away at the soul'.
Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has launched a stinging
attack on US policy, comparing it unfavourably with the British Empire.
In an interview with Muslim lifestyle magazine Emel, he said the
British Empire had put energy and resources into "normalising" lands it
took over.
But the US had assumed a "quick burst of violent action" to "clear the decks" was it all had to do in Iraq.
It thought it could then leave others to "put it back together", he said.
Moral high ground
Dr Williams said the US, as the only "global hegemonic power", was
trying to accumulate influence and control, rather than territory. But
he said: "That is not working," describing the result as "the worst of
all worlds".
He told the magazine the US had lost the moral high ground since the 11
September attacks and needed to take steps including "generous aid" to
"the societies that have been ravaged", a "check on the economic
exploitation of defeated territories" and a "demilitarisation" of its
presence in them in order to recover.
There is something about Western modernity which really does eat away at the soul
Dr Rowan Williams
Of Britain's role in Iraq, Dr Williams - a long-term critic of the
conflict - says: "A lot of the pressure around the war in Iraq was,
'We've got to do something! Then we'll feel better.' That's very
dangerous."
He describes violence as "a quick discharge of frustration", saying "It serves you. It does not serve the situation.
"Whenever people turn to violence what they do is temporarily release
themselves from some kind of problem but they help no-one else."
Dr Williams raises questions about the modern Western definition of
humanity, saying: "There is something about Western modernity which
really does eat away at the soul."
He warns the fast pace of modern life can "get in the way of the soul".
He told the magazine: "The worst message we can give off is compulsive anxiety, 'I've got to fix everything.'" <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7111686.stm>
US sub-prime crisis hits Algeria
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika wants to overhaul the banking system
Algeria has suspended the first ever privatisation of a bank in the
North African nation due to continuing troubles in global financial
markets.
A number of business deals have come unhinged in recent weeks as the
cost of borrowing money has risen due to problems in the US housing
market.
Algeria was planning to auction off 51% of Credit Populaire d'Algerie.
The finance ministry said that the sale would resume when the "impact of the mortgage crisis" became clearer.
Bids were expected to have opened this week with the landmark privatisation wrapped up by the end of the year.
The delay is the first sign that the US housing woes have reached Northern Africa.
The decision to temporarily halt the sale follows three of the six
banks on the bidding short-list dropping out of the race, including US
giant Citigroup, Spain's Santander and France's Credit Agricole.
"Most of them need to evaluate their situation but I think they will
come back to take part," said Fatiha Mentouri, Algeria's deputy finance
minister.
Of the remaining contenders, French bank Natexis announced over the
weekend that it would have to book losses of 407 million euros ($604m)
in relation to investments linked to worthless US home loans.
The planned privatisation was meant to have been part of the oil rich
country's drive to reform its banking sector, which is 95% controlled
by the state, and help attract investment to fund infrastructure
growth. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7113639.stm>
US helicopters fly in cyclone aid
US helicopter
The helicopters are delivering clean water and other supplies
Helicopters from the US navy have begun delivering relief supplies to
survivors of the devastating cyclone that hit southern Bangladesh 10
days ago.
Some 3,500 people died and an estimated two million were made homeless after Cyclone Sidr hit coastal areas.
The first sorties by the helicopters delivered clean water to villagers, officials said.
More than $140m (£70m) worth of international emergency aid has been pledged, the government has said.
On Sunday the head of the Bangladeshi army, Gen Moeen U Ahmed, said the
first priority was to "get food, water and clothes to the survivors".
The American helicopters are based on the USS Kearsarge, now moored off
the southern coast. A medical team from the ship has gone to the town
of Barisal.
Bangladesh has accepted US help because it does not have enough
helicopters to deliver the required aid, officials said, Reuters news
agency reports.
A UN report says it will take up to three months to supply "immediate relief assistance" such as food and shelter. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7113178.stm>
Iraqi refugees begin journey home
An Iraqi refugee holds his national flag before refugees board buses to return to Iraq from Damascus (27/11/2007)
Syria has had problems coping with 1.5 million refugees from Iraq
Hundreds of Iraqi refugees have left temporary shelter in Syria to return to their homes in Iraq.
About 800 people are travelling in a convoy of buses provided by the
Iraqi government following two months of security improvements in Iraq.
But there are also reports that life has become increasingly hard for some of the 1.5 million refugees in Syria.
The Iraqi government hopes that if the convoy is successful, many more people will be encouraged to return to Iraq.
The convoy was seen off by a group of men singing and waving the Iraqi flag.
Those on board join the steady stream of refugees who have crossed the border back into Iraq in recent months.
Iraq's ambassador to Syria, Hassan Abdul Aziz, said people feel they can return because the security situation has improved.
"People are saying our situation is really getting better than before," he said. "No bombs, no people killing each other.
"That's why people decided to go back to Iraq, otherwise nobody will go back." <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7115878.stm>
Australia shifts course, away from US
By Paul Reynolds, World Affairs correspondent BBC News website
Australian troops on patrol in Iraq
Australian combat troops are likely to be withdrawn from Iraq
Australia's incoming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will steer a course that
puts some distance between Australia and the United States under
President George W Bush.
Mr Rudd's two major foreign policy initiatives will both highlight differences with the Bush administration.
Firstly, the new Australian leader will sign the Kyoto Protocol on
climate change. Perhaps more importantly, given that Kyoto has to be
followed by a new agreement, he will himself go to the meeting in Bali
next month that will launch negotiations for a post-Kyoto plan.
Secondly, Mr Rudd is expected to withdraw the 550 Australian combat troops from Iraq.
Mr Bush lost the last of his big supporters in the war on Iraq when
John Howard went down to a landslide defeat, joining the former Spanish
and British Prime Ministers Jose Maria Aznar and Tony Blair. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7112774.stm>
CNN regrets Chavez caption gaffe
Hugo Chavez
Mr Chavez has often accused the US of trying to assassinate him
The US news channel CNN says it regrets a production mistake which
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said could encourage attempts to
assassinate him.
On Tuesday, CNN's Spanish service showed a caption reading "Who killed
him?" over a report about Mr Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe.
The caption - which was quickly removed - came from another story about the death of an American football star.
Mr Chavez has urged Venezuelan prosecutors to consider legal action.
He showed footage of the incident repeatedly during a two-hour appearance on the Venezuelan state television channel.
In a statement, CNN said its presenter had immediately made clear on air that there had been a mistake.
The channel said it would also broadcast further on-air clarifications of the incident.
It is not the first time Mr Chavez has attacked CNN, which he has
accused of being involved in a campaign by Washington to destabilise
Venezuela.
CNN denies that its reporting is biased and says it has no links to the US government. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7117287.stm>
Dollar thrill
* Evan Davis | Stars and strife |
* 29 Nov 07, 12:35 PM
For virtually my last excursion on this trip, I get into the dollar printing facility in downtown Washington DC.
evandollar.jpgAlthough we only get up close to one of the printing
machines inside, it's still quite a thrill. Here I am with a pile of
unfinished $100 banknotes.
There are only two of these facilities in the US, though they are
capable of producing millions of notes a day. And it seems very
different to the equivalent operation in the UK. We Brits print
banknotes out in Debden in Essex, and have contracted it out to the
private sector.
Here in the US it is a government operation right in the heart of Washington next door to the Holocaust Museum .
Now, the staff at the Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and
Printing were very efficient and cooperative in allowing us in. They
get nothing out of it (after all, they don't need TV publicity to sell
their product).
But I detect a small amount of disappointment that we are using the
facility as a backdrop to talk about the falling value of the dollar in
the international currency markets.
I can understand why they might think the story is negative ? people
generally prefer strong currencies to weak ones. And the weak dollar
reflects some of the current problems in the US economy (international
investors have less enthusiasm for investing in the US).
And it is clear the BEP staff are like other Americans in becoming more
aware their currency has fallen. In a country as big as this, people
would be entitled to forget the value of their currency to foreigners,
and yet people keep mentioning it.
They even make reference to the strong euro - which is a marked shift
from previous trips, that sometimes left me with the impression the
euro had barely dented the public consciousness.
But people here should not feel so negative about it. A weak dollar is
not just a symptom of the problem; it is also possibly a solution. It
provides a positive story in that it is helping the US adjust to a new
phase in the economic cycle that places emphasis on exporting rather
than importing, saving rather than borrowing. <
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2007/11/dollar_thrill_1.html>
Bin Laden urges Europeans to stop aiding US in Afghan war
11/30/2007 | 01:03 PM
CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to
stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan, according to
excerpts of a new audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television.
Bin Laden said it was unjust for the United States to have invaded
Afghanistan for sheltering him after the Sept. 11 terror attacks,
saying he was the ''only one responsible'' for the deadly assaults on
New York and Washington in 2001.
The message, broadcast Thursday, appeared to be another attempt by bin
Laden to influence public opinion in the West. In 2004, he offered
Europeans a truce if they stopped attacking Muslims, then later spoke
of a truce with the US. In both cases, al-Qaeda then denounced those
areas for not accepting its offer.
The terror leader said Afghans have been caught up in decades of
struggle, first ''at the hands of the Russians ... and before their
wounds had healed and their grief had ended, they were invaded without
right by your unjust governments.''
He said that two separate injustices were visited upon Afghanistan as
the Taliban was toppled in 2001: First, the war was ''waged against the
Afghans without right'', and second, coalition troops have not followed
the ''protocol of warfare,'' with the result that most bomb victims
have been women and children.
''I have personally witnessed incidents like these, and the matter continues on an almost daily basis,'' he said.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed the new tape as
typical of bin Laden's tactics and expressed faith in the European
allies.
''I think our NATO allies understand quite clearly what is at stake in
Afghanistan as well as elsewhere around the world in fighting the war
on terror,'' he told reporters. ''It's going to require a sustained
commitment over a period of time and we have seen that kind of
commitment from our European allies.''
FBI analysts were reviewing the tape but were not immediately able to
say how long it was or when it might have been recorded nor could they
provide other details. Spokesman Richard Kolko said it was being
examined ''to determine if it is authentic and for any intelligence
value.''
''As the FBI has said since 9/11, bin Laden was responsible for the
attack,'' Kolko said in a statement. ''In this latest tape, he again
acknowledged his responsibility. This should help to clarify for all
the conspiracy theorists, again - the 9/11 attack was done by bin Laden
and al-Qaeda.''
This has been the deadliest year in Afghanistan since the US-led
invasion in late 2001, with more than 6,100 people killed - including
more than 800 civilians - in militant attacks and military operations,
according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and
Western officials.
In the new tape, bin Laden said European nations joined the US invasion
of Afghanistan ''because they had no other alternative, only to be a
follower.''
Al-Jazeera aired two brief excerpts of the audiotape, titled ''Message
to the European Peoples,'' which al-Qaeda had announced Monday that it
would release soon.
Bin Laden issued four public statements earlier this year - on Sept. 7,
Sept. 11, Sept. 20 and Oct. 22. The Sept. 7 video was his first in
three years and was issued to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept.
11 attacks.
Al-Qaeda has dramatically stepped up its messages - a pace seen as a
sign of its increasing technical sophistication and the relative
security felt by its leadership. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding
along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.
Bin Laden's message was the 89th this year by Al-Qaeda's media wing,
Al-Sahab, an average of one every three days, double the rate in 2006,
according to IntelCenter, a US counterterrorism group that monitors
militant messaging. - AP <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/70837/Bin-Laden-urges-Europeans-to-stop-aiding-US-in-Afghan-war>
US plans multibillion-dollar spy satellite program
12/01/2007 | 02:07 PM
WASHINGTON - The U.S. is pursuing a multibillion-dollar program to
develop the next generation of spy satellites, the first major effort
of its kind since the Pentagon canceled the ambitious and costly Future
Imagery Architecture system two years ago, The Associated Press has
learned.
The new system, known as BASIC, would be launched by 2011 and is
expected to cost $2 billion to $4 billion (?1.35 billion to ?2.71
billion), according to U.S. officials familiar with the program. They
discussed details on condition of anonymity because the information is
classified.
Photo reconnaissance satellites are used to gather visual information
from space about adversarial governments and terror groups, such as
construction at suspected nuclear sites or militant training camps.
Satellites also can be used to survey damage from hurricanes, fires and
other natural disasters.
The new start comes as many U.S. officials, lawmakers and defense
experts question the high costs of satellite programs, particularly
after the demise of the previous program that wasted time and money.
The National Reconnaissance Office spent six years and billions of
dollars on Future Imagery Architecture, or FIA, before deciding in
September 2005 to scrap a major component of the program. Boeing, the
primary contractor, had run into technical problems in the development
of the electro-optical satellite and blew its budget by as much as $3
billion (?2 billion) before the Pentagon pulled the plug, according to
industry experts and government reports.
''They grossly underestimated the cost of the program,'' as well as the
technological feasibility of FIA, said John Pike, a space expert who
heads GlobalSecurity.org. FIA ''was a hallucination,'' he said.
The Defense Department is in the initial stages of preparing the new
program for bidders. The Pentagon's classified ''request for
information'' on the technology was issued this fall to industry.
Comments were due two weeks ago. A solicitation for proposals is
expected next spring.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is conducting a study to determine what
satellite capabilities are feasible. The analysis will be completed by
the end of the year.
Officials said the Pentagon is considering a range of options, but the
new program is expected to be significantly less ambitious than the one
it is meant to replace. Options include developing an entirely new
photo imagery satellite or a derivative of a commercial imagery
satellite, buying a commercial satellite or leasing existing satellite
capacity.
A U.S. commercial satellite launched in September by DigitalGlobe can
make out the outline of 20-inch (50-centimeter) object from space. In
April, a satellite will be launched with the ability to see a 16-inch
(40-centimeter) object. By 2011, that capability is expected to narrow
to nearly 10 inches (25 centimeters).
Industry officials said the contract probably will be for a commercial
or commercially derived spacecraft because of the time and budget
constraints and the government's apparent desire to maintain control of
the satellite.
The U.S. military has a $1 billion (?680 million) contract with two
commercial satellite companies to buy space imagery. Each $500 million
(?340 million) contract pays for a satellite, its launch and insurance
and roughly $200 million (?135 million) in photo imagery.
''We would look forward to reviewing any new government acquisition
request since we give the government more eyes in the sky and high
quality imagery at a fraction of the cost,'' said Mark Brender, vice
president for communications at GEOEYE.
GEOEYE and DigitalGlobe have the imagery contract with the Pentagon.
The canceled Boeing satellite under FIA was supposed to provide both
broad area views of the Earth and the ability to home in on a single
target with a high-powered telescope on a single satellite. Those
capabilities currently are provided by different satellites, according
to an industry official.
When the Pentagon canceled the program in 2005, it hired Lockheed
Martin to cobble together a space craft from spare parts from the
current generation of secret electro-optical reconnaissance satellites
to cover a potential gap in coverage.
The nation's classified network of satellites represent some of the
most expensive government programs and receive almost no public
oversight. Because of their multibillion-dollar price tags, sensitive
missions and lengthy development schedules, spy agencies go to great
pains to keep details from becoming public.
The House and Senate intelligence committees have criticized the
Pentagon and intelligence agencies' management of space programs. Half
the programs have experienced cost growth of 50 percent or more. The
Defense Department spends about $20 billion (?13.5 billion) annually on
space programs. - AP <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/70953/US-plans-multibillion-dollar-spy-satellite-program>
UK 'failed to make Basra safe'
UK troops numbers in Iraq will be cut to 2,500 by next spring
|
The UK will hand over control of Basra to Iraqi forces despite
failing in its goal to establish security there, an MPs' report says.
The city is dominated by militias and the police contains "murderous" and "corrupt" elements, the report added.
The whole purpose of the UK forces' presence may be in question due to cuts, the Defence Committee suggested.
Defence secretary Des Browne said security forces in Basra had grown in ability during the past year.
Numbers at the Basra Air Station base are to be halved to 2,500.
The report said: "The initial goal of UK forces in south
eastern Iraq was to establish the security necessary for the
development of representative political institutions and for economic
reconstruction.
"Although progress has been made, this goal remains unfulfilled."
It also suggested that the relative security of Basra did not mean that the root causes of violence had been tackled.
The report added: "There remain murderous, corrupt and
militia-infiltrated elements within the police which must be rooted out
as a matter of priority."
It went on to speculate on the future role of UK forces in Iraq.
The report said: "If there is still a role for UK forces
in Iraq, those forces must be capable of doing more than just
protecting themselves at Basra Air Station. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7124042.stm>
Seeing Iraq, thinking Vietnam
By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent
|
One of the most enduring images of the Vietnam War is
that of the last American helicopter lifting off from the roof of the
US embassy in Saigon, in April 1975.
The Vietnam war divided a generation of Americans
|
The shaky ladder up to the last point of escape somehow symbolised the fragility of America's position in the world.
This was certainly how it looked to Leslie Gelb, now
President Emeritus of the prestigious think-tank, the Council on
Foreign Relations in New York, but then a senior Pentagon official.
"That image," he told me, "looked like the ultimate
symbol of America's defeat. It looked like the beginning of America's
strategic demise in the world."
The Vietnam War certainly divided a generation of
Americans. But it did not lead to the collapse of American influence
that Leslie Gelb feared.
Skilful diplomacy and a world still chilled by the Cold
War helped the US to manage the consequences of its defeat. So Vietnam
had dramatic and lasting implications at home but only limited
consequences abroad. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7122241.stm>
Delicate territory: the landmine ban
|
By Stephanie Holmes
BBC News
|
Ten years ago, 122 countries signed a treaty,
pledging to stop using anti-personnel mines and to clear land of a
weapon which kills and injures indiscriminately long after a conflict
has ended.
Clearing land of mines is a painstaking process
|
The international agreement, now signed by 155 states, is hailed as a rare success.
It is credited with having established a global norm which has made the use of such mines unacceptable practice.
In 2006 alone, more than 450 sq km of land was cleared of mines.
And although 5,751 people still died in landmine-related incidents, this was lower than in previous years.
"It has achieved almost as much as it had the potential
to achieve," Tamar Gabelnick, Treaty Implementation Director for the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), told the BBC News
Website.
Yet the treaty has not been an unmitigated success. Some
states, including Russia, Burma and Korea continue to use landmines, as
do armed rebel groups and militias in 10 countries.
Cautious optimism for landmine ban
BBC
journalist Stuart Hughes, who lost his leg in a landmine explosion in
Iraq in 2003, examines the success of the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty.
In January 1997, Princess Diana walked through a
minefield in Angola and brought the problem of landmines to the world's
attention.
Mozambique is one of 25 African countries still contaminated
|
Her actions angered some who felt she was making a
political statement but, less than a year later, shortly after Diana's
death, Britain joined more than 120 countries in signing up to the
Ottawa Treaty.
A decade on, campaigners describe the treaty as a "success in progress".
A total of 80% of the world's countries have now pledged
not to produce, use or stockpile landmines. The global trade in the
weapons has virtually ceased.
Just two governments - Burma and Russia - are known to
have used landmines last year. More than 40 million landmines have been
destroyed since 1997 and thousands of square miles of contaminated land
has been cleared. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7124801.stm>
Protesters renew call for Smith transfer, clash with cops
12/04/2007 | 12:11 PM
A shoving match near the United States embassy in Manila marked the
first anniversary of the conviction of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith for
the rape of a Filipino woman inside the Subic Bay Freeport in 2005.
Radio dzBB reported that the police tried to stop militant women from
marching to the embassy to reiterate their demand for the transfer of
Smith to a "regular" jail.
The militants said Smith had been in the custody of the US Embassy for the past year, despite the
reclusion perpetua sentence he got after he was convicted on December 4 last year.
Law enforcers managed to block the march to the embassy. Another police
contingent blocked a larger group of militants at TM Kalaw Street.
Last Sunday, some two dozen protesters stormed the US embassy, pounding
a US government seal at the gate with their fists and a brick before
surprised policemen pushed them away.
- GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/71304/Protesters-renew-call-for-Smith-transfer-clash-with-cops>
US Democrats want rethink on Iran
President Ahmadinejad's nuclear hopes have raised many fears
|
The Democrats in the United States have called for a rethink of policy on Iran.
It comes after a major new intelligence assessment
suggested the government in Tehran is not trying to develop nuclear
weapons at present.
The latest National Intelligence Estimate says it is now believed Iran stopped its weapons programme in 2003.
The Democrat leader of the US Senate, Harry Reid, said
he hoped the White House would undertake "a diplomatic surge" to engage
with Iran.
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully
and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," said
Mr Reid.
He added that the Bush administration should emulate former President Ronald Reagan's engagement with the Soviet Union.
Stephen Hadley said Bush's strategy was right
|
The BBC Washington correspondent Justin Webb says the
Democrat response is a sign on the pivotal importance the new
intelligence assessment might turn out to have.
But, our correspondent adds, Washington's Iran hawks are horrified.
In particular they are concerned that news of that key
assessment will drown out other findings in the document - for
instance, that Tehran is keeping open its option to develop a nuclear
weapon and would have all the capacity to do so in the future if its
leaders decided to go ahead.
A senior advisor to President Bush said the report was "positive" but the risk of a nuclear Iran remained "serious".
Reconciliation call to Iraq politicians
|
By Crispin Thorold
BBC News, Baghdad
|
John Negroponte said the security surge must be consolidated
|
Iraq may be getting safer but security will not be assured until Iraqi politicians move towards reconciliation.
That was the message US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has brought to Iraq during his visit over the past week.
"The security surge has delivered significant results,
now progress on political reconciliation including key national
legislation as well as economic advances is needed to consolidate the
gains made thus far," Mr Negroponte said at a news conference in
Baghdad on Sunday.
"If progress is not made on these fronts we risk falling back to the more violent patterns of the past," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7125453.stm>
Prostitution ordeal of Iraqi girls
|
By Lina Sinjab
BBC News, Damascus
|
Many of the Iraqi dancers are in their early teens
|
With their bright neon signs and glitzy decor, dozens of nightclubs
line the streets of the Maraba district in the Syrian capital Damascus.
It's here that men come from far and wide
- car number plates are not just from Syria but Iraq and Saudi Arabia -
to watch young women dancing.
Most of the dancers are teenagers and many of them are Iraqi refugees.
They dance for the cash which gets tossed onto the stage.
The dancers are surrounded by bodyguards,
to stop them being touched by the men. But the guards also arrange for
their charges to be paid for sex with members of the audience.
 |
A woman came to my mother, who agreed to send me to these places. We needed the money
|
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees
have moved to Syria and Jordan during the past four years, escaping the
violence and instability that followed the US-led toppling of Saddam
Hussein.
Women supporting families face the greatest challenge.
The Syrian authorities and aid agencies do
not know the exact numbers, but many of the women say they have little
choice but to work in places like Maraba. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7119473.stm>
Pakistan dancing girls fear Taleban
|
By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Swat, northern Pakistan
|
Work for girls such as Palwasha is drying up
|
On a chilly October night, a late visitor bangs the huge steel gate
of a house in a narrow alley of Mingora city, the headquarters of
Pakistan's troubled northern district, Swat.
But no-one answers.
A painted sign on top of the gate says: "No more singing and dancing from today - 8 August 2007."
A curious neighbour walks up to the visitor, telling him
the girls inside "have got letters from the Taleban, advising them to
put an end to their business if they don't want their house blown up". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7121622.stm>
World's poor hardest hit by corruption, survey says
12/06/2007 | 06:06 PM
BERLIN - Some of the world's poorest people in Africa and Asia are
hardest hit by public corruption - forced to pay bribes for police
protection, education and justice - according to a survey released
Thursday.
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International's 2007 Global
Corruption Barometer showed that as a region, Africa suffered the most
public corruption. In the African countries surveyed, 42 percent of
people reported that they had been asked to pay a bribe to obtain a
service during the past 12 months.
The Asia Pacific region was next with 22 percent; then a grouping of
Russia, Moldova and Ukraine with 21 percent; Latin America with 13
percent; Southeast Europe with 12 percent; the European Union with 5
percent; and North America with 2 percent.
''Poor families are hit hardest by demands for bribes,'' the organization said in a summary of its report.
''This year's Global Corruption Barometer has made it clear that too
often, people must part with their hard-earned money to pay for
services that should be free,'' said organization chairman Huguette
Labelle in a statement. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/71716/Worlds-poor-hardest-hit-by-corruption-survey-says>
CPP welcomes Unicef report linking AFP to abuses vs kids
12/06/2007 | 05:13 PM
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) welcomed Thursday a report
by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) linking the military's
counterinsurgency efforts to human rights abuses against minors.
In a statement on the CPP website, Communist Party spokesman Gregorio
"Ka Roger" Rosal scored the military for its "ruthless all-out war" and
"desperate effort to destroy suspected support bases of the armed
resistance."
"In the AFP's vicious and heartless war against the people especially
in peasant communities, there is hardly any discrimination between
armed guerrillas and unarmed civilians. Worse, in its desperation to
suppress whole communities engaged in agrarian struggles and suspected
of supporting the armed revolution, the fascist armed forces do not
hesitate to direct their armed might and terror against children, women
and the elderly," said Rosal.
He claimed that people are especially repulsed at how the AFP shows no
qualms at all in victimizing children and forcibly using them in
military operations.
Children are thus employed as objects of their psychological warfare
campaign, and in a great number of cases have been subjected to
torture, rape, coercion, and even killed, he said. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/71697/CPP-welcomes-Unicef-report-linking-AFP-to-abuses-vs-kids>
Living in Somalia's danger zone
|
By Mohamed Olad Hassan
BBC News, Mogadishu
|
The once-bustling streets of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, are now eerily empty.
The southern neighbourhoods are littered with the scars
of recent fighting between the insurgents and Ethiopian-backed forces
of the transitional government.
Ethiopian tanks have taken up positions outside the
houses of the hundreds of thousands of residents who have fled the city
- estimated to be 60% of the city's population.
Forty-two-year-old Shamsa Nur Ali was one of those who could stand it no longer.
Shamsa Nur Ali (l) fears the fighting could resume any day
|
Towards the end of last month she sought refuge with her
children and her aged mother in Daynile, on the southern outskirts of
Mogadishu.
The family of six now lives under a tree where they
depend on relatives nearby - also displaced by the violence - and are
lucky to get one meal a day.
Before their departure, the family had considered itself
fortunate as Mrs Nur's husband had a wheelbarrow and could earn an
income from transporting goods for people in the market.
"We are suffering enough. No shelter, no food and no hope," says Mrs Nur.
"Plus there is the fear that the fighting could spread here and drive us away again." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7129562.stm>
French army 'wants Chad payment'
The charity workers deny acting illegally
|
The French army is demanding to be paid to feed the six French
charity workers who have been charged with child kidnapping in Chad,
their lawyer says.
Gilbert Collard says the army, which has a base in Chad, wants 2,000 euros ($2,900; £1,400) a month, per person.
He told AFP news agency the detainees' families could not afford to pay that much and said the demand was "vulgar".
The six say they believed the 103 children they were planning to send to France were orphans from Darfur.
Mr Collard urged the French authorities to have a "minimum of decency".
"Our compatriots will be forced to eat food doled out by
Chadian authorities - given the food insecurity there, this is really
sad," he said.
Hard labour
Investigations by aid workers suggest the 103 children
are mostly from Chad, which borders the war-torn Sudanese region of
Darfur, and are not orphans.
Most of the 103 children say they are Chadian and lived with family
|
Some of their parents say they were either offered
inducements to give up their children, or believed they were being sent
to school elsewhere in Chad.
French officials have said the operation by the Zoe's Ark charity was "illegal and irresponsible".
The case has led to violent anti-French protests in Chad.
If found guilty, the charity workers could face several years with hard labour in a Chadian prison. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7130339.stm>
New scepticism drives Iran report
|
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website
|
The startling change in the US intelligence assessment about Iran's
nuclear programme is the result of a much more vigorous system
introduced since the debacle over Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass
destruction.
Iran's Natanz enrichment plant
|
The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran this
week concluded that Iran probably did once have a plan to develop a
nuclear bomb but halted this in 2003 and had not restarted by mid-2007.
There was an important proviso: "We do not know whether it currently
intends to develop nuclear weapons."
The assessment is based on a wide range of intelligence
sources. These include interceptions of communications, possibly
information from defectors, technical information from the
International Atomic Energy Agency (the UN body inspecting Iran's
declared nuclear facilities) and even an analysis of TV footage from
inside Iran's enrichment plant.
Update: according to the New York Times, a key element
was the acquisition of notes about meetings between Iranian officials
during which military officers complained at the programme being shut
down. This resulted in a detailed exercise to decide whether the
information was genuine.
The examination took place in a new atmosphere of
scepticism. This differed from the attitude during the Iraq days which
tended to think the worst of Iraq's intentions. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7128963.stm>
9,000 radioactive items made safe
By Angus Crawford
BBC News
|
Large radioactive sources are used in hospital scanners
|
The government has organised the disposal of 9,000 radioactive items
to stop them falling into the hands of terrorists, the BBC has learned.
The items come from hospitals, schools and private
firms. The Environment Agency's programme of disposal has been running
since 2005.
The effort is also designed to prevent the materials going missing and becoming a hazard to the public.
The final cost of getting rid of these "surplus sources" is likely to be £7m.
There are thought to be 11,000 radioactive items in the
UK, owned by universities, schools, hospitals and private firms, which
are no longer used.
In hospitals, they might be highly active sources as large as a desk which were used in radiography machines.
Private companies often use radioactive elements in
measuring devices and military museums have the dials of World War II
aircraft which are covered in radioactive paint.
Clive Williams, from the Environment Agency, said a sample could be "the size of a finger tip" or much larger.
Red Cross visits Iraqi prisoners
|
By Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva
|
The Red Cross hopes to visit prisoners across Iraq
|
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has carried out its first visits to detainees held by Iraq.
The ICRC president, Jakob Kellenberger, said Red Cross
delegates had visited prisoners held near Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdish
north of Iraq in October.
The organisation made the announcement during the launch of its financial appeal for 2008.
It is asking for almost $900m (£444m) - a record amount. Iraq will be its biggest humanitarian operation.
The ICRC is based in Geneva and is mandated under the Geneva conventions to visit detainees in conflicts.
It is already visiting around 20,000 detainees held by
US forces in Iraq, but it has been trying for over a year to gain
access to an estimated 35,000 prisoners held in Iraqi-run jails.
Mr Kellenberger said Red Cross delegates had now managed
to visit some detainees. But, he added, a comprehensive agreement with
the Iraqi authorities to visit all detainees was still being
negotiated. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7131546.stm>
Heading back home to Iraq
Nabil Majid has had enough. He has had to abandon
his house and his business, his life has been threatened and he was
forced to leave his homeland.
|
Nabil Majid kisses his Iraqi flag
|
For the last year he has been living the life of a refugee in a small flat in Damascus.
But now he has spent all his savings and like most
Iraqis he is not allowed to work in Syria. So he has decided it is time
to return to Baghdad.
He is not alone. The United Nations estimates there are 1.5 million Iraqis now living in neighbouring Syria.
Every month for the last four years, more and more
families poured across the border. But in the last few weeks, that has
changed.
Figures provided by the Iraqi government show that nearly 50,000 people a month are now heading back home.
Nabil carefully unpicks the tape sticking the flag of
his beloved Iraq to the wall, neatly folds it, kisses it and then puts
it into his case. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7131848.stm>
CIA destroyed interrogation tapes
The CIA destroyed the tapes when being scrutinised over secret prisons
|
The CIA has confirmed that it destroyed at least two video tapes showing the interrogation of terror suspects.
According to the intelligence agency, the tapes were
destroyed to protect the identity of CIA agents and because they no
longer had intelligence value.
But civil liberties lawyers have refused to accept this, saying the CIA previously denied such tapes existed.
They say the move appears to be an attempt to destroy evidence that could have brought CIA agents to account.
The New York Times, which broke the story, quotes
current and former government officials as saying the CIA destroyed the
tapes in 2005 as it faced Congressional and legal scrutiny about its
secret detention program.
Officials feared the tapes could have raised doubts about the legality of the CIA's techniques, the newspaper says.
The tapes are thought to have shown the interrogation in
2002 of a number of terror suspects, including Abu Zubaydah, who had
been a chief recruiter for the al-Qaeda network.
TORTURE TECHNIQUES:
Water
boarding: prisoner bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane
wrapped round his head. Water is poured onto his face and is said to
produce a fear of drowning
Cold cell: prisoner made to stand naked in a cold, though not freezing, cell and doused with water
Standing: Prisoners stand for 40 hours and more, shackled to the floor
Belly slap: a hard slap to the stomach with an open hand. This is designed to be painful but not to cause injury
Source: ABC News
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7132000.stm>
Pressure kept up on Taleban town
Afghan troops are playing a key part in the operation
|
International and Afghan troops are continuing a major offensive to
capture a strategic town in southern Afghanistan from Taleban
insurgents.
A British spokesman said there was steady progress in fighting at Musa Qala during the night.
The coalition reported no casualties, denying Taleban claims that several armoured vehicles had been destroyed.
Musa Qala is the only major town the Taleban hold in Afghanistan, and they say they have 2,000 troops there.
The BBC's David Loyn, in Kabul, says the town - in
Helmand province - has been the main centre of drugs trading in the
country since the Taleban took control in February. It has taken on
symbolic importance for both sides. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7133994.stm>
UK Guantanamo four to be released
Five British residents are among more than 300 detainees
|
Four of the five British residents held by the US at Guantanamo Bay are to be released, the BBC has learned.
The UK government requested the release of all five men
in August after previously refusing to intervene as they were not
British citizens.
Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes and Abdenour Samuer will
come back to the UK, while Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer will return to his
native Saudi Arabia.
Campaign group Amnesty International said the news was "extremely welcome". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7133760.stm>
AFP in denial over kids in armed conflict - IBON
AMITA LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
12/10/2007 | 06:54 PM
A think tank on Monday criticized the Armed Forces over its alleged
knee-jerk reaction on the Unicef-funded research about the effects of
armed conflict on women and children.
"The AFP's arrogant dismissal of the study, and the malicious attempt
to link IBON with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), only
reflects the state of denial among the state armed forces that the
findings are legitimate," Jose Enrique Africa, IBON Foundation research
head, said in a press statement.
He added: "This only works against the well-being of the children, women and communities adversely affected by armed conflict."
Africa said a military spokesperson was quoted as saying that the study
Uncounted Lives: Children, Women and Conflict in the Philippines was
"very partial" in favor of the communist rebels and that "other sources
of information were not given due consideration."
He said findings of the study are based on extensive research by IBON
Foundation, the Children's Rehabilitation Center (CRC) and the Center
for Women's Resources (CWR).
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) funded the research.
"There was direct field work in armed conflict-affected communities and
desk research using government and non-government sources," he said. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/72276/AFP-in-denial-over-kids-in-armed-conflict---IBON>
Afghan battle 'being won' - Brown
Britain may have to fight the Taleban for years to come
|
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told MPs that forces are "winning the battle against the insurgency" in Afghanistan.
He said Britain and its coalition partners were
"isolating and eliminating the leadership of the Taleban, not
negotiating with them".
But he backed Afghan leaders' moves towards "political reconciliation" with ex-insurgents who renounce violence.
The current level of 7,800 troops would be maintained, said Mr Brown, as part of the UK's "long term commitment".
He also announced £450m development funding and more equipment for troops. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7139736.stm>
US cool on closer N Korea ties
|
Condoleezza Rice was speaking to the Associated Press
|
The United States says it is not ready to engage broadly with North Korea, despite recent warmer relations.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the North Koreans must first abandon all elements of their nuclear weapons programme.
President Bush previously referred to North Korea as part of an axis of evil.
But last week, he wrote a personal letter to North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il and this week a US orchestra got permission
to play in Pyongyang.
Ms Rice's comments come despite positive remarks by her deputy after a visit to Pyongyang, the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani notes.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill had said
he was hopeful North Korea would provide a full declaration of its
nuclear programmes by around the end of the year.
This is broadly in line with the country's promise to
reveal and stop all its nuclear activities in exchange for fuel and
economic aid.
Even though Condoleezza Rice said she was pleased about
news the New York Philharmonic Orchestra was being allowed to play in
North Korea, she insisted denuclearisation was the priority and that
North Korea was "not a regime the United States is prepared to engage
broadly".
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7141638.stm>
Egypt 'fabricated terror group'
Emergency rule gives state security sweeping powers of detention
|
A US-based human rights group has accused the Egyptian government of
using torture and false confessions in a high-profile anti-terrorism
case.
Twenty-two alleged members of an unknown Islamist group,
the Victorious Sect, were accused of planning attacks on tourism sites
and gas pipelines.
Human Rights Watch says its research suggests the security forces may have fabricated the group's name.
It reports claims the case was used to justify renewing emergency laws.
Although the state prosecutor dismissed the charges against the suspects, 10 of them are still believed to be in detention.
The BBC's Ian Pannell in Cairo says this is just the
latest in a run of accusations by human rights organisations against
Egypt's police and state security apparatus.
The Egyptian government has consistently denied that
torture is used routinely and rejected what it sees as foreign
interference in its own affairs. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7137950.stm>
Musharraf amending charter to protect acts - official
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Pervez Musharraf will end emergency
rule on Saturday as promised, but first he will amend the constitution
to protect his decisions from court review, Pakistan's attorney general
said.
Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum told The Associated Press that
government legal experts were finalizing the amendments and that the
changes would be announced before the state of emergency is lifted. He
provided no details.
''The president will lift the emergency to restore the constitution and the fundamental rights,'' Qayyum said Thursday.
Musharraf, who has acknowledged breaching constitutional protections,
purged the judiciary, jailed thousands of opponents and silenced
television news channels after he suspended the constitution and
declared emergency rule Nov. 3.
The US-backed leader said he acted to prevent political chaos and to
give authorities a freer hand against Islamic militants. Critics accuse
him of making a power grab before the old Supreme Court could rule on
the legality of his continued rule. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/72821/Musharraf-amending-charter-to-protect-acts---official>
US nixes clarifying roles in control of gas emissions
12/15/2007 | 02:39 PM
BALI, Indonesia - The United States rejected Saturday a proposal by
developing nations to clarify their responsibilities on controlling
greenhouse gas emissions, further blocking agreement on a plan to
launch negotiations for a new global warming pact.
"We are not prepared to accept this formulation at this time," said
Paula Dobriansky, head of the American delegation to the U.N. climate
conference in Bali, Indonesia.
The negotiations snagged early Saturday over demands by developing
nations that their need for technological help from rich nations and
other issues receive greater recognition in the document.
- AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/72999/US-nixes-clarifying-roles-in-control-of-gas-emissions>
Bali climate confab ends with plan for a new pact
12/15/2007 | 04:21 PM
BALI, Indonesia - In a dramatic finish to a U.N. climate conference,
world leaders adopted a plan Saturday to negotiate a new global warming
pact after the United States dropped opposition to stronger wording on
poorer nations' need for technology to fight rising temperatures.
The U.S. stand had drawn loud boos and sharp floor rebukes''Lead or get
out of the way!'' one delegate demanded before Undersecretary of State
Paula Dobriansky reversed the U.S. position, clearing the way for the
''Bali Roadmap.''
Talks, to be completed in 2009, could determine for years to come how
well the world will head off global warming and scientists' predictions
of widespread drought, flooding, rising seas and worsening storms.
Negotiators are charged with finding ways to reduce greenhouse gases
and helping poor countries adapt by speeding up the transfer of
technology and offering financial assistance.
Adoption came after marathon negotiations overnight that several times appeared on the brink of collapse.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier urged delegates to quickly
approve a ''good and strong'' compromise plan, saying ''I'm
disappointed about the lack of progress.''
European and U.S. envoys dueled into the final hours of the two-week
meeting over the European Union's proposal that the Bali mandate
suggest an ambitious goal for cutting industrial nations' emissions by
25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
That guideline's specific numbers were eliminated from the text, but an indirect reference was inserted instead.
Just when it appeared an agreement was within reach, developing nations
argued that their need for technological help from rich nations and
other issues receive greater recognition in the document launching the
negotiations.
They said earlier agreed-upon text had been watered down.
''We are hugely disappointed,'' said Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, a member
of the Indian delegation. ''We are desperately keen to have a
successful outcome. But it has to be on the basis of transparency,
justice and fairness.''
Dobriansky, who had earlier said the United States wasn't prepared to
budge, reversed course after being publicly rebuked, first by South
Africa and then by Papua New Guinea.
''We will go forward and join consensus,'' she said, triggering rousing applause.
In a U.N. process requiring consensus, both sides won and lost.
The broadly worded ''roadmap,'' in any event, doesn't itself guarantee
any level of emissions reductions or any international commitment by
any country only a commitment to negotiate.
As for developing countries, the final document instructs negotiators
to consider incentives and other means to encourage poorer nations to
curb, on a voluntary basis, growth in their emissions. The explosive
growth of greenhouse emissions in China, India and other developing
countries potentially could negate cutbacks in the developed world.
- AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/73006/Bali-climate-confab-ends-with-plan-for-a-new-pact>
US Senate passes Iraq funds bill
Democrats had said funding must be tied to a pullout timetable
|
The US Senate has authorised more spending for the Iraq war, without
tying the bill to a timetable for troop withdrawal - a key Democratic
demand.
In a 90-3 vote, it approved a further $189bn (£94bn) for the campaigns in Iraq and also in Afghanistan.
Democrats, who have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, accepted the measure after failing to impose the timetable demand.
The bill had passed in the House of Representatives. President Bush is now expected to sign it into law.
The bill covers the budget year ending in September 2008.
In total, it authorises $696bn (£345bn) in military spending, including the $189bn for Iraq and Afghanistan.
While it does not send money to the Pentagon, it is seen
as a crucial policy measure as it guides companion spending legislation
and dictates the acquisition and usage of weapons programmes.
The approval of the bill reflected the failure - yet
again - by the Democrats to overcome Republican objections in the
Senate, which required 60 votes.
Republicans expressed their satisfaction with the Senate vote. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7145488.stm>
Uncertainty follows Basra exit
|
By Paul Wood
BBC News, Basra
|
defining image: a British soldier escapes a burning tank in Basra
|
On Sunday, Britain forces are due to hand over
control of security in Basra, the last area of Iraq for which they
still have responsibility.
It's hoped the transfer will allow British forces to
draw down to some 2,500 by spring next year - from the current strength
of 4,700. Our Middle East correspondent, Paul Wood, has written this
assessment:
Basra: March, 2007. It was the third time the same black
car had passed by at the end of the dusty street. The British patrol
knew they were being scoped out, possibly for an ambush.
Sure enough, there was a muzzle flash from a roof-top.
Then another from the opposite side of the road. The corporal doing top
cover on our vehicle let loose with the heavy machine gun, bullet
casings spitting out like a scene from a Tarantino movie.
Eventually, the smoke cleared. The snipers were gone. The British patrol had survived.
" A British general told me - privately and off the record of course - that the Army had been defeated, pure and simple " Paul Wood
US House limits CIA interrogation
The CIA is permitted to use "enhanced interrogation techniques"
|
The US House of Representatives has approved a bill that would ban
the CIA from using harsh interrogation techniques such as simulated
drowning.
The measure would require intelligence agencies to
follow the rules adopted by the US Army, which forbid such methods, and
to abide by the Geneva Conventions.
President George Bush has threatened to veto the bill if the Senate passes it.
The move came a day after the CIA's director was questioned about the wiping of videotaped interrogations.
Gen Michael Hayden told a congressional intelligence
committee that he had no prior knowledge of plans to destroy the tapes
and that his organisation "could have done an awful lot better" in
keeping Congress informed on the issue.
He said last week that the tapes of the interrogations
of two alleged al-Qaeda operatives had been destroyed because they were
no longer of intelligence value and to protect the identities of
agents.
Correspondents say there are suspicions that the
decision was made to conceal evidence that the suspects were being
tortured. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7144075.stm>
Honour for bribe-busting granny
Mrs Duc says she continues to receive requests for help
|
A 76-year-old Vietnamese woman has been given a major award by a global anti-corruption watchdog.
Transparency International (TI) said Le Hien Duc had
been chosen for the annual Integrity Award for being a "resourceful
anti-corruption fighter".
Corruption is widespread in Communist Vietnam but it is rare for people to challenge the authorities.
Since retiring in 1984, Mrs Duc has worked to expose corruption cases and challenge government officials.
Speaking to the BBC from her house in Hanoi, the
grandmother of eight said she was "overjoyed and extremely proud" with
the award, but that her fight against corruption would go on "with or
without it".
"I receive hundreds of e-mails everyday, each of them has a story, each of them is a cry for help," she said.
"Such trust, such expectation... how can I stop?" <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7142280.stm>
Malaysia arrests ethnic Indians
The men had been involved in a protest rally last month
|
Five ethnic Indian rights activists have been arrested in Malaysia,
under a rarely used security law that allows indefinite detention
without trial.
The men belong to the Hindu Rights Action Force
(Hindraf), which organised a mass rally last month alleging
discrimination against ethnic Indians.
Analysts say the arrests are likely to stoke more racial tension.
The five men are being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which human rights groups want to abolish.
The act is not thought to have been used against government critics since 2001.
Ethnic Indians - mainly Hindus - form one of Malaysia's largest minority groups.
Activists say that many Hindus live in poverty, partly
because of policies granting jobs and economic advantages to the ethnic
Malay Muslim majority.
But the government rejects claims of unfair discrimination. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7142506.stm>
Belarus backs Russia on missiles
Mr Lukashenko (right) is seen as one of Mr Putin's firmest allies
|
Belarus says it is ready to "play its role" as a Russian ally if the
US overrides Moscow's objections and creates new missile bases in
Europe.
Russia has warned it may place missiles in Belarus to counter US plans for bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko praised ties with Russia as he hosted President Vladimir Putin in Minsk.
But he dismissed speculation that his country, a former Soviet state, might enter a formal union with Russia.
"I was surprised your visit prompted a stir in the
West," Mr Lukashenko said to Mr Putin during the Russian leader's trip
to the Belarussian capital.
"There's no subtext here. We're friendly allied states and I would be surprised if you didn't visit."
Analysts have recently suggested that a union between
Minsk and Moscow could enable President Putin to retain political
influence in Russia after he relinquishes the presidency in March.
Mr Putin could, in theory, become leader of the new entity created by such a union.
Mr Putin has also been tipped as a candidate for prime minister in Russia after his presidential term ends.
Gaddafi visit splits French press
Gaddafi's visit has received strong condemnation from various quarters
|
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's first visit to France in 34 years has sharply divided opinion in the French press.
Commentators in the left-of-centre press accuse
French President Nicolas Sarkozy of ignoring what they see as Libya's
poor human rights record in order to secure contracts for French
companies.
However, a writer in a business paper says that Mr
Sarkozy's realpolitik will deliver tangible benefits for France, and
several other commentators argue that Libya is being rightly rewarded
for its recent efforts to co-operate with the international community. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7142343.stm>
'Terror T-shirts' Danes cleared
The company selling the T-shirts now wants its money back
|
Seven Danes who sold T-shirts with the logos of Colombian and
Palestinian militants have been acquitted of supporting terrorist
groups.
They had pledged five euros (£3.50) from each sale to
the Farc in Colombia or the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine).
Both are classified as terrorist groups by the European Union.
Iraqi oil exceeds pre-war output
Iraq's oil infrastructure appears to be getting back on track
|
Iraqi oil production is above the levels seen before the US-led
invasion of the country in 2003, according to the International Energy
Agency (IEA).
The IEA said Iraqi crude production is now running at
2.3 million barrels per day, compared with 1.9 million barrels at the
start of this year.
It puts the rise down to the improving security situation in Iraq, especially in the north of the country.
But the IEA warned that attacks on Iraqi oil facilities remain a threat.
In southern Iraq, more than 85% of the residents of
Basra believe British troops have had a negative effect on the Iraqi
province since 2003, according to a BBC poll.
The survey for BBC Newsnight of nearly 1,000 people also
suggests that 56% believe their presence has increased the overall
level of militia violence.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7144774.stm>
Al-Qaeda tape rejects Annapolis
The tape called for Muslims to reject Middle East peace talks
|
Al-Qaeda's deputy leader has purportedly said Arab leaders have
betrayed the Palestinians by attending US-hosted Middle East talks last
month.
In an internet audio message attributed to Ayman al-Zawahiri, Muslims are urged to reject the talks.
The Annapolis conference has kicked off the first major Israeli-Palestinian peace drive in seven years.
Most Arab nations, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, attended the talks.
"The Arab states and governments were present as false
witnesses to the latest of the treacherous deals to sell Palestine,"
the message says.
Algeria: a new front for al-Qaeda?
|
|
By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East analyst
The bombings in Algiers hit UN buildings and a bus full of students
|
Is Algeria experiencing a resurgence of the violence it suffered
during the civil war of the 1990s, or is its conflict becoming
internationalised?
When a local Islamist group, the Salafist Group for
Preaching and Combat (GSPC), re-branded itself in January 2007 as
"al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb", some experts were
sceptical, seeing the move as tactical opportunism.
Now they are not so sure.
Over the last year, the group has launched a string of
operations, including an attempt to assassinate Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and two attacks in the heart of the capital,
Algiers.
On 11 April, a triple suicide bombing left 33 people
dead. The latest attacks, on Tuesday, killed at least 26 people,
although some officials have said more than twice as many died. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7142050.stm>
|
Basra residents blame UK troops
British troops withdrew to a base on the outskirts of Basra in September
|
More than 85% of the residents of Basra believe British troops have
had a negative effect on the Iraqi province since 2003, an opinion poll
suggests.
The survey for BBC Newsnight of nearly 1,000 people also
suggests that 56% believe their presence has increased the overall
level of militia violence.
Two-thirds think security will improve when the British hand back control of the province to Iraqi forces on Sunday.
The 4,500 British troops in Iraq will then focus on training Iraqi forces.
The move to Provincial Iraqi Control will eventually pave the way for UK troop numbers to be reduced to 2,500 from the spring.
'Difficult' talks ahead after contentious climate accord in Bali
12/16/2007 | 04:33 PM
BALI, Indonesia - Two weeks of international climate talks marked by
bitter disagreements and angry accusations culminated in a last-minute
U.S. compromise and an agreement to adopt a blueprint for fighting
global warming by 2009.
Now comes the hard part.
Delegates from nearly 190 nations must fix goals for industrialized
nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions while helping developing
countries cut their own emissions and adapt to rising temperatures.
Negotiators also will consider ways to encourage those countries to
protect their rapidly dwindling forests which absorb carbon dioxide.
''This is the beginning, not the end,'' U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, who made a plea Saturday on the Indonesian island of Bali for
action, told The Associated Press. ''We will have to engage in more
complex, long and difficult negotiations.'' <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/73073/Difficult-talks-ahead-after-contentious-climate-accord-in-Bali>
Zawahiri says UK 'fleeing Basra'
Zawahiri is thought to be in hiding on the Afghan-Pakistan border
|
The deputy leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has said the
decision of UK forces to "flee" Basra shows that Iraqi insurgents are
gaining strength.
In a videotaped interview released on an Islamist
website, Zawahiri said the US-led coalition was "defeated and looking
for a way out" of the country.
Iraq took formal responsibility for security in Basra province on Sunday.
The 4,500 British troops still in Iraq will now take a backseat role, focusing on training local security forces.
The move to Provincial Iraqi Control four-and-a-half
years after the invasion is being seen as a key stage towards a final
British withdrawal from the country.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7147354.stm>
Iraqis demand better life amid new calm
Many Iraqis say they have seen few improvements to their lives
|
With security improved in the Iraqi capital, the
BBC's Crispin Thorold meets Iraqis who want to see other things get
better, and meets the man charged with getting it done.
Now that bombs are relatively rare, and the gunfire is
sporadic, the gentle whirring of generators have become the sound of
Baghdad.
Electricity supply in the Iraqi capital is scarce at
best. People have to make do with just a few hours of power every day,
and sometimes there is none.
It had been like that for three days when we met Jinan Flaih al-Obaidi.
|
From
the invasion until now we have seen nothing from the government. Every
day they say they are going to provide electricity, but they do nothing
|
She cooks for her six children on a two-ring camping stove, in her pokey kitchen in Baghdad.
Jinan and her husband cannot afford enough fuel to keep
their generator going all the time, so they have to make do with the
city's power, when it works.
"Frankly, we have seen nothing from the government over the past few years", said Mrs Obaidi.
"From the invasion until now we have seen nothing from
them. Every day they say they are going to provide electricity, but
they do nothing. When will they pay attention to the people and solve
our problems?" <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7147162.stm>
Pentagon claims progress in Iraq
Despite continued attacks, casualties in Iraq are down
|
US forces have achieved "significant progress" in Iraq over the last
three months but the handover to Iraqis is lagging, the Pentagon has
said.
Iraq is becoming safer and the economy is growing at more than 6%, according to a new quarterly report for Congress.
But it said that although Iraqi forces have grown in size, they still depend on the US for logistics and training.
India and China launch war games
The two sides signed an agreement on defence cooperation in 2006
|
India and China have begun a landmark joint military exercise, the
first of its kind between the two largest armies in the world.
The exercise is taking place between 20 and 28 December in China's south-western province of Yunnan.
It involves a company - just over 100 officers and men - from each side.
India and China fought a brief but bloody border war in
1962 and observers say the largely symbolic exercise is to boost
historically frosty relations.
The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says after years of
mistrust both sides are beginning to benefit from increased trade and
their governments are coming under increasing pressure from business
leaders to improve ties. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7153179.stm>
Iraq government 'failing Falluja'
|
By Mike Lanchin and Mona Mahmoud
BBC World Service
|
Falluja police are short of resources, as they try to expand their role
|
Three years after the massive US assault on Falluja, the city's
mayor has accused Iraq's central government of starving the city of
resources.
Mayor Sa'ad Awad says Shia officials still consider the former insurgent stronghold a haven for Sunni militants.
Support was particularly lacking for the city's 2,000-strong police force, he added, as it takes on a bigger role.
The head of the US military in Falluja said he shared some of the mayor's concerns over scarce police resources.
Colonel Richard Simcock told the BBC there were no
immediate plans to withdraw the 5,000 US Marines currently stationed in
the area. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7152991.stm>
Rice in Guantanamo closure appeal
Dr Rice said freed inmates could go on to jeopardize countries' security
|
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged countries that have
nationals who are inmates at Guantanamo Bay to help the US close the
detention centre.
She told the BBC that such countries could guarantee the "bad people" held there would not be a danger if freed.
Ms Rice repeated the expressed wish of US President George W Bush's administration to shut the camp.
But she said it must not be done at the expense of the safety of Americans and other people around the world.
She said the detention centre contained dangerous men
who had been caught on the battlefield in Afghanistan and had been
plotting against capitals in the US, Europe and South East Asia. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7155142.stm>
Control order for detainee Hicks
David Hicks spent more than five years in Guantanamo Bay
|
Former Guantanamo detainee David Hicks will face tough restrictions
on his movements when he is released from jail next week, an Australian
court ruled.
A magistrate approved a police request for a control order, saying he was satisfied that Hicks posed a threat.
It is only the second ever control order issued in Australia under anti-terrorism laws.
Hicks admitted supporting terrorism at a US military court earlier this year, after five years in Guantanamo Bay.
Under a plea deal with prosecutors, he was jailed for seven years, with all but nine months of the sentence suspended.
Belgium foils al-Qaeda jailbreak
Trabelsi said he had met Bin Laden
|
Fourteen people have been arrested in Belgium after authorities
foiled a plot to free an al-Qaeda member arrested in September 2001,
officials say.
The suspects, detained in police raids, were described as Islamic militants.
They were seeking to free Tunisian Nizar Trabelsi, jailed in Belgium for planning to attack US targets.
An official said the plot involved explosives and that
security was being stepped up in the capital over fears of a "possible
attack".
Iraq: The trauma and the mistakes
Sumilao farmers end month-long ‘walk’
12/21/2007 | 07:16 PM
Farmers of Sumilao, Bukidnon, are heading home this Christmas but vowed
to come back to Manila if the government fails to deliver its promise.
“Today (Friday), we end this journey of 1,700 kilometers, but the
journey toward achieving our 144 hectare land continues. Should the
government fail to live up and make good its promises, we are willing
to retrace our steps from Sumilao back to Malacañang. We are even ready
to make sacrifices beyond that," the group’s statement read.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo who is also head of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) National
Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa) said the Church will be picking
up the cudgels for the farmers as they head home to be with their
families this Christmas. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/73789/Sumilao-farmers-end-month-long-walk>
US regulators OK Google-DoubleClick deal
12/21/2007 | 05:32 PM
WASHINGTON - With US antitrust clearance for its DoubleClick purchase,
Google's focus now turns to European regulators, who are expected to be
more critical of the top search engine linking up with a market leader
in online advertising.
The proposed $3.1 billion transaction, which is strongly opposed by
privacy advocates, cannot be completed without approval from the
European Commission, whose review deadline is April 2.
The Federal Trade Commission said that the deal won't significantly
lessen competition in the online advertising market, rebuffing
complaints from Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Inc. that it would give
Google a dominant position.
"The FTC's strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses
no risk to competition and will benefit consumers," Eric Schmidt,
Google Inc.'s chief executive, said. "We hope that the European
Commission will soon reach the same conclusion."
The European Commission declined to comment on the FTC's decision, spokesman Jonathan Todd said.
The FTC's approval of the deal without conditions could push European
regulators to take a tougher line, says Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at
Stifel Nicolaus. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/73767/US-regulators-OK-Google-DoubleClick-deal>
Warning over Pentagon war funding
Mr Gates said the Pentagon needed more money from Congress
|
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned that the US military is
in danger of running out of money for its operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
He said Congressional funding for the wars was inadequate and budget constraints were undermining planning.
Congress this week approved $70bn (£35bn) - just half the sum that US President George W Bush had sought.
But Mr Gates also said many troops could be pulled out of Iraq as planned next year thanks to better security.
Iraq children 'paying high price'
The violence led to extreme hardship for many children in Iraq
|
Two million children in Iraq are facing threats including poor
nutrition, lack of education, disease and violence, the UN children's
agency, Unicef, has said.
Hundreds were killed in violence during 2007, while 1,350 were detained by the authorities, it said in a new report.
Some 25,000 children and their families had to leave their homes each month to seek shelter in other parts of Iraq.
But Unicef said the fall in violence in recent months was opening a window for more international assistance.
Earlier, the top US military commander in Iraq, Gen
David Petraeus, told the BBC that the number of violent attacks in Iraq
had fallen to its lowest in two-and-a-half years.
Israel ministers urge Hamas talks
Mr Ben Eliezer said recognition of Israel was not vital to talks
|
Two Israeli cabinet ministers have said the government should
examine any serious ceasefire proposal from the Palestinian Islamist
group Hamas.
Infrastructure minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and
transport minister Shaul Mofaz say offers of a truce should be given
serious consideration.
Israel refuses to negotiate until Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, recognises its existence.
But Mr Eliezer said this should not be a precondition for talks to take place.
"If Hamas comes to us with a serious proposal for a
long-term truce, in my opinion Israel should not reject it," Mr
Ben-Eliezer told Israeli public radio on Friday.
"For that, it would not be vital for Hamas to recognise Israel first."
NKorea to declare nuclear programs soon - report
12/22/2007 | 01:12 PM
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea has told a U.S. diplomat it will soon
declare its nuclear programs under an international disarmament
agreement, a news report said Saturday.
The North stated the position to Sung Kim, the State Department's top
Korea expert, when he visited the country earlier this week, Yonhap
news agency reported, citing an unidentified diplomatic source.
Kim, who returned to Seoul on Friday after a three-day trip to the
North, stressed to North Korean officials that the declaration should
be ''sufficient and complete'' and include its suspected uranium
enrichment program, Yonhap said.
Kim briefed South Korean officials Saturday on the outcome of his discussions in the North, it said.
Foreign Ministry officials could not immediately confirm the report. Comments from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul were not available.
The North's nuclear declaration has emerged as a key sticking point in
the denuclearization process that has made strides this year, with
Pyongyang shutting down its sole operating nuclear reactor in July and
now disabling it under the watch of U.S. experts. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/73842/NKorea-to-declare-nuclear-programs-soon---report>
'Medical myths' exposed as untrue
Some say we should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
|
Some claim drinking eight glasses of water a day leads to good health, while reading in dim light damages eyesight.
Others believe we only use 10% of our brains or that shaving legs causes hair to grow back thicker.
But a review of evidence by US researchers surrounding seven commonly-hold beliefs suggests they are actually "medical myths".
Some are utterly untrue, while others have no evidential proof, the British Medical Journal reports.
Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis hunted medical literature for evidence on each claim.
CIA 'kept' tapes from 9/11 probe
The tapes are said to show a simulated drowning technique
|
A leaked memorandum from the former 9/11 commission says it made
repeated requests to the CIA for information on the interrogation of
al-Qaeda suspects.
But ex-commission executive director Philip Zelikow says
the CIA did not hand over tapes that have since come to light, the New
York Times reported.
The CIA later erased the footage, which allegedly contains images of abuse.
The memo urges a further investigation into whether the agency acted illegally by withholding the recordings.
The CIA says there was no specific request for the
tapes, which reportedly contained images of interrogation techniques
including water-boarding, which simulates drowning. The CIA denies
torture. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7157993.stm>
FBI planned mass arrests in 1950
The FBI boss wanted suspects held in military and federal prisons
|
Former FBI director J Edgar Hoover had a plan to arrest 12,000
Americans he deemed a possible threat to national security,
declassified papers reveal.
The FBI chief sent his proposal to US President Harry
Truman just after the start of the Korean War in 1950, The New York
Times newspaper reports.
He asked the president to declare the mass arrest necessary to counter "treason, espionage and sabotage".
There is no evidence any part of the plan was ever approved.
Mr Hoover wanted the president to suspend the
centuries-old legal right of habeas corpus, which protects individuals
against unlawful arrest.
The FBI director planned to detain the suspects - whose
list of names he had been compiling for years - in US military and
federal prisons.
"The index now contains approximately 12,000
individuals, of which approximately 97% are citizens of the United
States," wrote Mr Hoover, in the now declassified document. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7158029.stm>
Turk Iraq raids 'killed hundreds'
Northern Iraq's Kurdish government has condemned the raids
|
Turkish forces have killed hundreds of Kurdish rebels and struck
more than 200 targets in northern Iraq in the past 10 days, the Turkish
military has said.
Up to 175 rebels were killed on 16 December alone, the
military statement added. More cross-border air raids were reported on
Tuesday.
There has been no word on casualty figures from the Iraqi authorities.
Turkey blames rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for launching attacks on Turkey from bases in Iraq.
|
MOUNTING BORDER TENSION
7 Oct PKK rebels kill 13 Turkish troops near Iraqi border
17 Oct - Turkish MPs allow military operations in Iraq
21 Oct - 12 Turkish troops die in PKK ambush near Iraqi border
30 Nov - Turkish cabinet backs PKK pursuits in Iraq
13 Nov - Turkey shells PKK targets in Iraq, Baghdad says
1 Dec - Turkish army targets rebels in Iraq, inflicting "heavy losses"
16 Dec - Turkish jets bomb PKK targets in Iraq for the first time. Incursion by ground forces follows
22 Dec - More air raids on rebel targets
|
Ankara approved cross-border raids on PKK bases in
October, saying the Iraqi government and its US backers were not doing
enough to halt attacks.
Turkey launched its first cross-border raid on 16 December, which was followed by an incursion by ground forces.
Another offensive was launched on 22 December, with warplanes bombing suspected rebel targets.
The military said the casualty figures did not include
rebels hit in hideouts and caves, adding that "many" wounded fighters
were taken to hospitals in several cities in northern Iraq.
Targets hit include three command centres, two
communications centres, two training camps, nine logistical areas, 182
living quarters and 14 arsenals, the statement said.
On Monday, the president of the Kurdish region of
northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, condemned Turkey's raids and warned
Ankara to stop the strikes.
The US, meanwhile, backs Turkish operations against the PKK and has agreed to share intelligence with Ankara. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7159940.stm>
Pope calls for end to conflicts
|
The Pope delivered greetings in about 60 languages
|
Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for just solutions to the conflicts
in the Middle East, Iraq, Africa and elsewhere in his annual Christmas
message.
He denounced terrorism and violence that victimised children and women.
His address came as millions of Christians around the world celebrated the traditional day of Christ's birth.
Serbia to take retaliatory steps against the West if Kosovo becomes independent
12/25/2007 | 07:55 PM
BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbia plans to adopt a set of retaliatory measures
against Western countries if they recognize Kosovo's independence,
including the possibility of downgrading diplomatic ties with the
United States and EU countries, officials said Tuesday.
Belgrade also said it rejects the idea of an EU mission in Kosovo until the breakaway province's status is resolved.
On Wednesday, the parliament will debate a strongly-worded resolution
proposed by the government that will bind Serbian officials never to
accept Kosovo's independence.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have pledged to proclaim independence early
next year, and the US and several EU states have indicated they would
recognize it. Serbia, backed by Russia, insists that Kosovo, a province
of 2 million people that is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, should remain
part of its territory.
The European Union agreed earlier this month to send an 1,800-member
mission to Kosovo to replace the current system in the province, which
has been run by the UN and NATO since the 1999 war between Serbs and
separatist ethnic Albanians.
But the Serbian government resolution, which will almost certainly be
adopted by the nationalist-dominated parliament, said that the EU
mission would not be welcome before Kosovo's final status is determined
at the UN Security Council, where Russia could veto any decision not
favorable to Belgrade.
"The sending of the proposed EU mission... would be an act which
jeopardizes the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the constitution
of the Republic of Serbia," according to a copy of the draft resolution
made available to the Associated Press said. Russia has opposed the new
EU mission without Belgrade's consent. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/74115/Serbia-to-take-retaliatory-steps-against-the-West-if-Kosovo-becomes-independent>
RP water problem caused by pollution, not overpopulation - DENR chief
12/25/2007 | 04:26 PM
The chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
refuses to attribute the problem on water supply to the rapidly growing
population in the country.
Instead, DENR Secretary Lito Atienza said the worsening pollution is
the main threat to the country's water supply as it deteriorates water
quality and could thus affect potable water supply.
“Making people the problem will only lead us in the wrong direction...
We might succeed in putting the wrong solution to the right problem
and, as a result, create bigger problems," Atienza said.
According to Atienza, the country actually still has an oversupply of
water. He said that the country uses only 12 percent of its available
supply annually.
His remark came after the recently published Asian Water Development
Outlook 2007 of the Asian Development Bank warned of a possible water
crisis in the country.
Atienza admitted that many of the country’s water bodies are polluted and can hardly be used for productive purposes.
Atienza said that because of this, the DENR is now prioritizing the
cleanup of water bodies surrounding Metro Manila, including Pasig
River, Laguna Bay and Manila Bay.
“We will transform these water bodies from being our biggest toilets to
ones that will increase trade, commerce and fishery production, promote
ecotourism and lead to urban renewal and development," Atienza said.
Atienza also said that the government could strengthen its sustainable
water management program by tapping local governments and communities.
-
GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/74103/RP-water-problem-caused-by-pollution-not-overpopulation---DENR-chief>
Buddhist monks march in Cambodia
|
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh
|
The Khmer Rouge persecuted religious institutions during its rule
|
Hundreds of Buddhist monks and nuns have been marching in Cambodia
in support of the upcoming trials of the former leaders of the Khmer
Rouge.
Almost two million Cambodians are thought to have died during four years of Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.
The organisation targeted religious institutions, destroying churches, mosques and temples.
Muslim and Christian leaders joined the Buddhist monks and nuns to demonstrate their support for the tribunal.
They came from around the country and marched to the special courts on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh.
The organisers said the trials would be crucial in helping Cambodia to forget its troubled past and look to the future.
Russia tests ballistic missiles
he RS-24 is designed to carry multiple independent warheads
|
Russia has successfully tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles that are to replace ageing rockets from the Soviet era.
A strategic missile known as the RS-24 flew 7,000 km (4350 miles) to hit targets on the Kamchatka peninsula.
Later, a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea launched another new missile, hitting the same test site.
It comes as Russia has again accused the US of ignoring its concerns over a planned US missile defence system.
Washington plans to site anti-missile facilities in
central Europe, claiming that it will help defend against any possible
future nuclear threat from Iran.
The US missile shield system would see a radar site set
up in the Czech Republic and a base in Poland for 10 missile
interceptors.
However, speaking in an interview to be published later
this week in the Vremya Novostey daily, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said it was clear the system is aimed at deterring Russia,
rather than Iran.
The US has said that the limited system it proposes could not threaten Russia's own missile arsenal. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7160082.stm>
Urgent talks on Afghan expulsions
he EU and UN have been eradicating poppy crops in Helmand
|
Diplomatic efforts are continuing in Afghanistan to try to prevent
the expulsion from the country of two senior foreign officials.
The men, based in Kabul, are accused of posing a threat to national security.
One is a high-ranking UN employee, Briton Mervyn
Patterson, the other is acting head of the EU mission in Afghanistan,
Irishman Michael Semple.
The expulsion order follows claims that the men had held talks with the Taleban in Helmand province in the south.
The Afghan government has said the pair must leave by Thursday, and the UN has reportedly booked a flight.
Campaigner's Christmas sacrifice
|
By Jane Mower
BBC News, London
|
Brian Haw will spend Christmas Day in the camp opposite Parliament
|
As a Christian, Brian Haw believes there is no better time to be protesting against war than at Christmas.
In contrast to his family, who will celebrate with a
traditional tree, turkey and presents, Mr Haw will be camped out on the
streets of London.
The 58-year-old from Redditch, Worcestershire, has held
a one-man anti-war protest opposite the Houses of Parliament since
2001.
His dedication to the cause means he will spend a seventh Christmas apart from his wife and seven children.
He said: "I love my family and my kids and I would love
to be with them for Christmas but there are other people's families
being murdered by our own country.
"The killing doesn't stop just because it's Christmas so it's important we protest at this time of year."
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7151546.stm>
Tsunami homeless three years on
|
By Swaminathan Natarajan
BBC News, Andaman islands
|
More than 40,000 people in India's Andaman and
Nicobar Islands made homeless by the 26 December 2004 Asian tsunami are
still living in temporary shelters.
|
The tin shelters are not suited to the climate, people say
|
They were promised they would only be homeless for a maximum of 18 months.
The local administration says the first batch of 200
houses will be handed over on Wednesday, three years to the day since
the tsunami struck.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are situated some
1,200km (750 miles) east of the Indian mainland. Official figures put
the number of dead and missing here from the tsunami at 3,527. Locals
say many more perished.
Close to 10,000 families lost their homes. Irrespective
of the family size, each family was given a one-room shelter measuring
about 150 to 200 sq feet. These shelters are made up of tin sheets.
They get monthly rations, but no cash handouts. They complain of official apathy.
The tin shelters are too hot during summer and leak during winter, they say. Water and sanitary conditions are very bad.
"Since they have not given us a house, I am not able to
settle down and start a new life," one woman, Shanti, complains. "They
are giving some rations. That is not enough. I sell vegetables to meet
my expenses." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7156365.stm>
Riots break out in Pakistan to protest Bhutto assassination
12/28/2007 | 09:35 AM
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - The assassination of opposition leader Benazir
Bhutto by a gunman at a campaign rally sparked riots across Pakistan by
her enraged supporters, leaving hopes for democracy hanging by a thread
Friday in this nuclear-armed US ally.
The death of President Pervez Musharraf's most powerful opponent
plunged the nation into turmoil just 12 days before elections, and
threatened its already unsteady role as a key fighter against Islamic
terror.
The attacker opened fire as Bhutto, one of Pakistan's most famous and
enduring politicians, waved to supporters from a vehicle Thursday while
departing the rally. The attacker then blew himself up, killing 20
other people, according to witnesses and police.
The slaying sparked violence in several cities that killed at least nine other people.
Nawaz Sharif, another opposition politician, announced he was
boycotting Jan. 8 parliamentary elections in which Bhutto was hoping to
recapture the premiership, and Musharraf reportedly weighed canceling
the poll.
Musharraf blamed Islamic terrorists, pledging in a nationally televised
speech that ''we will not rest until we eliminate these terrorists and
root them out.''
US President George W. Bush, who spoke briefly by phone with Musharraf,
looked tense as he spoke to reporters, denouncing the ''murderous
extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy.''
Bhutto's death closed yet another grim chapter in Pakistan's
bloodstained history, 28 years after her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto,
another ex-prime minister, was hanged by a military dictatorship in the
same northern city where she was killed. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/74424/Riots-break-out-in-Pakistan-after-Bhutto-assassination>
Crunch year ahead for Iraq
There is a window of opportunity, which needs to be exploited
|
More so than any other since the toppling of Saddam Hussein, 2008 is set to be a make-or-break year for Iraq.
The country ended 2007 on a high.
The last third of the year saw a dramatic improvement in
the security situation in many of the most troubled areas, including
much of Baghdad.
The number of attacks of all sorts, and the ensuing casualties, showed a sustained decline.
But none of the threats to Iraq's stability and future has been definitively defeated.
None of the factors feeding into the improvement is irreversible. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7143953.stm>
Ethiopia in Somalia: One year on
By Martin Plaut
BBC Africa analyst
|
The Ethiopian decision to invade Somalia in December 2006 altered the balance of power in the Horn of Africa.
The Ethiopian army is now fighting on several fronts
|
On 28 December 2006, they helped
government forces capture Islamists from the capital, Mogadishu, which
they had controlled for six months.
Ethiopian forces, which had been facing Eritrea along
their 1,000km border, but were otherwise confronting few security
threats, are now engaged on three fronts.
The forces in Somalia are now bogged down and cannot withdraw, as Prime Minister Meles Zenawi recently acknowledged.
In addition to the conflict in Somalia they now also
confront a growing rebellion in the Somali region of Ethiopia from the
Ogaden National Liberation Front.
Knox Chitiyo, head of the Africa programme at the Royal
United Services Institute in London, believes the Ethiopian military
position is increasingly difficult.
"The government now has daggers pointing at it from all directions," he says.
"It is facing a multi-front war with no prospect of a military victory."
The invasion has:
- Left Ethiopia bogged down in Somalia
-
Forced around 600,000 Somalis to flee their homes, in what the UN has
described as one of the worst humanitarian situations in Africa
- Brought the United States into the conflict, allied to Ethiopia
- Left Eritrea even more isolated from the international
community and threatened with being declared a terrorist state by
Washington.
The US says it opposed the Ethiopian invasion, although
it certainly supplied assistance to the Ethiopian military once the
invasion had happened, and used its AC-130 gunships to try to kill
senior Islamists on at least one occasion in January 2007.
Many Somalis are opposed to the Ethiopian presence
|
The US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said: "We urged the Ethiopian military not to go into Somalia."
This is acknowledged by Ethiopian officials, who say the
then head of US Central Command, General John Abizaid told them the
invasion would be a mistake, and warned that Somalia would become
"Ethiopia's Iraq."
Others analysts are not so apocalyptic. Ethiopia argued
it had no alternative but to confront the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC)
after it took power in Mogadishu in mid-2006, because of the Islamists'
alleged links with al-Qaeda.
The declaration of a jihad against Addis Ababa by UIC leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys was seen as the last straw. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7155868.stm>
Bin Laden warns of expanding Al-Qaeda's war to Israel
12/30/2007 | 12:52 PM
CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against
fighting al-Qaeda and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to
Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening "blood for blood,
destruction for destruction."
Most of the 56-minute tape dealt with Iraq, apparently al-Qaeda's
latest attempt to keep supporters in Iraq unified at a time when the
U.S. military claims to have al-Qaeda's Iraq branch on the run.
The tape did not mention Pakistan or the assassination of Benazir
Bhutto, though Pakistan's government has blamed al-Qaida and the
Taliban for her death on Thursday. That suggested the tape was made
before the assassination.
Bin Laden's comments offered an unusually direct attack on Israel,
stepping up al-Qaeda's attempts to use the Israeli-Arab conflict to
rally supporters. Israel has warned of growing al-Qaeda activity in
Palestinian territory, though terror network is not believed to have
taken a strong role there so far.
"We intend to liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine from the
(Jordan) river to the sea," he said, threatening "blood for blood,
destruction for destruction."
"We will not recognize even one inch for Jews in the land of Palestine as other Muslim leaders have," bin Laden said. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/74623/Bin-Laden-warns-of-expanding-Al-Qaedas-war-to-Israel>
Australia plans tough web rules
|
By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney
|
Internet providers will be expected to filter all their content
|
Australia is planning tough new rules to protect children from online pornography and violence.
The new Labor government wants internet service
providers to filter content to ensure households and schools do not
receive "inappropriate" material.
Civil libertarians have condemned the plan as unnecessary, and say it will erode the freedom of the internet.
S Lanka truce end worries Norway
r Solheim is disappointed
|
Norwegian peace mediators say they are deeply concerned by Sri
Lanka's decision to withdraw from a ceasefire agreement with Tamil
Tiger rebels.
On Wednesday, Colombo said it was formally withdrawing
from the accord because escalating violence had made the
Norwegian-brokered truce redundant.
The accord came into effect in February 2002 ahead of inconclusive peace talks.
Since mid-2006 troops and rebels have fought regular clashes, despite the deal still technically being in place.
There was no immediate response from the Tigers, who want independence for Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east.
Meanwhile, police and security forces have been put on alert across Sri Lanka. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7169145.stm>
Dashed hopes in Colombia hostage drama
By Jeremy McDermott
BBC News, Medellin
|
Clara Rojas is believed to have given birth in captivity in 2004
|
There was another flash of hope for the hostages in
the hands of Colombian guerrillas, but it soon evaporated, leaving them
likely condemned to more months, if not years, in rebel captivity.
The promised release of three, Clara Rojas, her son
Emmanuel and former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez, did not
materialise with the rebels and the government blaming each other for
preventing the liberation.
The only concrete result of the whole episode is that the freedom of the hostages in guerrilla hands is as far off as ever.
"The Farc continue to play with the lives of the
hostages and their families," said Beatriz Romero, 36, a teacher in the
city of Medellin.
"I believe that most of those poor people will die in guerrilla hands, far from home."
The Venezuelan-led mission was suspended on Monday
|
The aborted release also left President Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela in a difficult position as the Farc had promised to deliver
the hostages to him.
He had set up a public relations spectacle with
international observers forming part of a mission that headed to
Colombia, only to have everyone head home without success. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7169403.stm>
US-Iran stand-off not mere propaganda
|
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent BBC News website
|
Aggressive behaviour or routine checking?
|
The admission by the US Navy that Iranian speedboats
might not have been the source of an apparent threat to attack American
ships in the Gulf is a significant move that raises new fears about the
chances of unintended clashes in the region.
It has worrying similarities with the incident in 1988
when, in the same Strait of Hormuz, the USS Vincennes shot down an
Iranian civilian airliner, having failed to monitor the radio traffic
properly.
The crew of the Vincennes became wrongly convinced that
the airliner, an Airbus with 290 people on board, all of whom died, was
an Iranian fighter jet.
The Iranian government said that the destruction of the plane was done in full knowledge of what it was. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7182637.stm>
Smashing the glass ceiling
|
By Stephanie Holmes
BBC News
|
A place at high table: Norway's energy ministers are often women
|
From 1 January 2008 it became compulsory for
Norwegian companies to appoint a substantial number of women to their
management boards, but is government intervention on gender issues the
best way to create real change in the corporate world?
Norway now leads the globe in gender
equality at board level, with a higher percentage of women at the
uppermost echelons of its firms than any other country.
The change was achieved by introducing
tough legislation threatening to close publicly listed firms that
failed to comply with the 40% female quota for board members.
Days after the 1 January 2008 deadline passed, almost every single listed firm has female faces on its board.
The government can now proclaim its policies a success - and they have provoked a vital debate about women and work.
"As of today, all major publicly listed
companies do comply with the law," says Marit Hoel, head of Norway's
Centre for Corporate Diversity. "The number has quadrupled in less than
five years." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7176879.stm>
The terrorist and the shop girl
|
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News
|
Sohail Qureshi: Under surveillance
|
"Akhi - Sorry for the late reply. The airport security is still as tight as ever - even more now though."
So said Heathrow shop worker Samina Malik in an e-mail to self-proclaimed al-Qaeda terrorist Sohail Anjum Qureshi.
The interception of that email and other evidence led to
Qureshi being jailed for four-and-a-half years on Tuesday, after he
admitted preparing to commit an act of terrorism overseas.
The east London man, originally from Pakistan, is the
first person to be convicted of the key new terrorist offence
introduced in 2006.
Aiming low at China-India summit
By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing
|
A few weeks ago, Chinese and Indian troops held a
joint military exercise in which they stormed a mocked-up terrorist
training camp.
Mr Singh (R) is paying his first visit to China since he came to power
|
Soldiers "wiped out terrorists" and "rescued hostages" in what was the first-ever joint military drill between the two sides.
It was immediately hailed as an important step not just
for the two armies, but also for two countries that fought a brief war
in 1962.
But analysts say there are still a number of major, unresolved issues between the world's two largest developing nations.
These differences mean expectations are low for the first visit to China by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Perhaps the most pressing problem is the
territorial disputes. Both neighbours claim the other occupies
territory that is rightfully theirs.
One disputed area is the north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Special negotiations were begun in 2003 to resolve this
and other border issues and, at least publicly, China is upbeat about
the progress made.
Speaking at a recent news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said negotiations were going well.
"We are willing to work together with India so as to reach a fair and reasonable resolution framework," she said.
But Brahma Chellaney, of Indian think-tank the Centre for Policy Research, says resolving the border issue will be difficult.
He says China has hardened its position in recent years.
For example, China has gone back on an
agreement that border-related agreements should not disturb settled
populations, says the professor of strategic studies.
He also says the Chinese military have made numerous incursions across the border into India over recent months.
'Positive' Middle East talks held
There have been a series of meetings since the Annapolis talks
|
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have held talks in
Jerusalem on what are seen as the most intractable issues in the peace
process.
The meeting lasted two hours and were described as positive by both sides.
The talks were led by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei.
The core issues include the status of
Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state, settlements in the West
Bank, refugees, security and water resources.
Mr Qurei said the talks had
been positive and the core issues were discussed in general terms, but
warned the path ahead would be difficult.
An Israeli foreign ministry official said that further discussions would be intensive.
The AFP news agency quoted an Israeli official as saying the atmosphere in the talks was good and constructive. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7187681.stm>
The search for a 'humane' execution
By Tom Geoghegan
BBC News Magazine
|
In the US all executions by lethal injection have
been temporarily halted while experts examine whether it is a "humane"
form of execution. How does it compare to other forms, and for
supporters of capital punishment, is there a more benign method?
The United States is one of 55 countries that practise
the death penalty as the ultimate sanction on convicted criminals. But
in the majority of US states the procedure is frozen while the Supreme
Court decides whether lethal injection is a "cruel and unusual" form of
punishment that violates the constitution.
The length of hangman's rope depends on weight
|
For many, the debate has a ring of the absurd. Those
opposed in principle to the death penalty believe all its forms are
immoral and arguments about methods are irrelevant.
But Michael Portillo, who has voted for and against the
death penalty in his time as an MP, says he changed his position
because of miscarriages of justice.
Scientists in hybrid embryos plea
|
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News
|
Hybrids are made using an animal egg mixed with human genes
|
Leading scientists have urged peers not to block the use of human-animal hybrid embryos for research.
Amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Bill would restrict the use of such embryos, which contain a small
amount of animal DNA.
But the scientists say they are vital to the development of new treatments.
Agencies see good year for Iraq
different kind of helmet? An Iraqi worker aboard an oil-tanker
|
Iraq faces a period of economic growth and political progress,
according to assessments by the International Monetary Fund and the UN.
The IMF sees a 7% jump in growth in 2008 and a similar
rise next year, and says oil revenues from buoyant exports should be up
by 200,000 barrels a day.
The UN envoy to Iraq welcomed dialogue between the Sunni and Shia communities and praised the government's work.
But analysts warn much depends on rapid progress in the next six to 12 months.
Reporting from Baghdad, the BBC's Jonny Dymond says the
IMF and UN statements amount to a coincidental chorus of approval that
tops off what have been, by Iraq's dismal standards, a good few weeks.
The change in the political mood is largely down to the
passing of a law on Saturday, enabling some members of the Baath Party
of Saddam Hussain to re-enter the military and bureaucracy, our
correspondent says.
They were barred from public service by one of the first acts of the US-run Coalition Provisional Administration.
The law reversing that expulsion, combined with the sharp fall in violence in much of Iraq, has led to greater optimism. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7193174.stm>
The web war waged from a bedroom
Police and intelligence agencies across the world
believe that the case of Younes Tsouli - who was jailed in London last
year for inciting terror over the internet - offers dramatic evidence
of how extremists are using the web to radicalise young Muslims.
Younis Tsouli described himself online as Terrorist 007
|
From his bedroom in Shepherd's Bush in West London, Tsouli, who called
himself "Terrorist 007," was linked to alleged terror groups in Bosnia,
Scandinavia, Canada and the United States.
He also had links to a number of Britons who have been jailed recently for terror offences.
When he was arrested by police in 2005, they had no idea
that he had become one of the most notorious cyber-jihadists in the
world.
Tsouli had been talent-spotted by al-Qaeda in Iraq,
whose leaders needed someone to distribute footage of suicide bombings
and beheadings.
"007 came at this with a Western perspective," says
international terrorism consultant Evan Kohlmann. "He had a flair for
marketing and he had the technical knowledge and skills to be able to
place this stuff in areas on the net where it wouldn't get easily
erased." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7191597.stm>
Optimism drives Bush's peace push
By Matthew Price
BBC News, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
|
The president has been optimistic during his Middle East tour
|
George W Bush has changed his approach to the Middle
East but, as he heads home from his tour to the region, the question is
whether it is too late to make any difference.
The president, who came to power seven long years ago
with little knowledge of global affairs, rounded off a marathon trip to
a region that more than any other has been at the receiving end of his
foreign policy.
For over a week, we have heard from an optimistic president.
But ask White House insiders for a list of concrete achievements from the last eight days, and there are few specifics.
There is a belief that without the president's 48 hours
in Jerusalem and Ramallah, there would have been no meeting this week
between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
On Iran, the Gulf allies share some of the US concerns over the Iranian nuclear issue.
As for democracy? Well, even the White House has to admit that he has not been touring the most liberal countries in the world.
|
This
was probably in the long run more about belief. The belief within the
Bush White House that they are finally pursuing policies that might work
|
But, again, there is a hope that improving educational standards and the like will help open up these societies over the years.
For many years I watched this president from afar, while reporting from the Middle East.
What has been interesting watching him up close is how,
on occasion, his understanding of the issues has seemed far more
nuanced than in the past.
I spent four years talking to people who loathe the man.
Palestinians who despair as he criticises their violence and not Israel's occupation - which they believe causes that violence.
Iranians angered as he accuses them of failing to adhere
to UN resolutions while never mentioning that Israel has been ignoring
UN resolutions for decades.
Iraqis who just shake their heads when he speaks of freedom and democracy in their country.
Why Britain withholds Lugovoi evidence
|
By Paul Reynolds
World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website
|
Stephen Kinnock, head of British Council in St Petersburg
|
In the diplomatic tit-for-tat over the Alexander Litvinenko affair,
Britain is refusing to take one step open to it under a European
convention governing extradition.
It could give the Russian authorities the evidence it
has against the former KGB officer Andrei Lugovoi and ask them to take
over the case themselves.
In theory, it could publish the evidence itself in any
event. This would show to the world how strong its case is. Without
such information, it is much easier for Russia to dismiss the
extradition request as politically motivated.
However, the British government is afraid that the
Russians might simply dismiss the evidence or use it to put Mr Lugovoi
on trial, perhaps in secret, and then announce that he had been
acquitted. Either way, the proceedings would thereby be ended.
"He would not get a non-political trial in Russia," said a British official.
So the British policy is to continue with the
extradition request. It probably knows it will not get anywhere,
especially as Mr Lugovoi is now an MP - and is prepared for the
consequences. These are unfolding, with the British Council now being
involved and its St Petersburg director Stephen Kinnock being stopped
by police. "This is real Cold War stuff," said one Russian expert.
"You have got to remember that there is huge suspicion of such foreign
organisations in Russia and always has been.". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7192044.stm>
Battle of the blogs in Kenya
|
By Juliet Njeri
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi
|
Kenyan's political crisis sparked by the disputed
presidential election continues to dominate debate on the country's
blogs and online forums.
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader
Raila Odinga says he was robbed of victory in December by Mwai Kibaki,
who was declared the winner. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7189291.stm>
Smith targets internet extremism
Ministers want to stop youngsters from being targeted on the net.
|
The home secretary has outlined plans to target websites promoting
extremism, as part of efforts to stop people being drawn towards
radical groups.
Jacqui Smith says she wants to use technology to stop "vulnerable people" being "groomed for violent extremism".
"Stopping people becoming or supporting terrorists is
the major long-term challenge we face," she said in her first major
speech on the issue.
Ms Smith will discuss the plans with members of the communications industry.
Earlier she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was
growing evidence terrorists were using the internet to spread messages.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7193049.stm>
US fears Europe-based terrorism
Many US arrivals from Europe are not screened
|
One of the biggest threats to US security may now come from within
Europe, US Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff has told the BBC.
He said militant attacks and plots in Europe over recent
years had made the US aware of the "real risk that Europe will become a
platform for terrorists".
Mr Chertoff said it was likely security checks on travellers from Europe would be increased.
Migrant pain for Channel truckers
|
By Clive Myrie
BBC News, Calais
|
The dream for many migrants who gather in Calais is to start a new life across the Channel in the UK.
But they are a nightmare for the lorry drivers whose vehicles they target as a way in.
Migrants hitch an unwelcome lift on lorries crossing the Channel
|
It is a ritual of sorts for those who attend - the
migrants gathering every evening around six o'clock at a soup kitchen
run by a Catholic charity near the port of Calais.
It is a chance to catch up on gossip or find out how
others are surviving the cold winter months sleeping rough on local
streets.
UN says Algeria ignored warnings
The UN has announced an investigation into the bombing
|
The UN has said that Algeria failed to answer a plea for more
security before attacks that killed 17 UN staff in Algiers last month.
The head of the UN Development Programme, Kemal Dervis, said a "formal request" had received no response.
The UN in Algiers was targeted in one of two suicide bombings claimed by al-Qaeda's North African branch.
The UN has announced an investigation into the attack. Algeria has said the probe is unwelcome.
Mr Dervis said that UN security in Algiers had been at
its lowest level last year because previous attacks in the country had
targeted the government and "at that time there was no indication that
there was any targeting of the UN".
But he said the UN's resident co-ordinator had asked the
government "for particular security measures, including blocking off
the street, and that the government did not respond to that". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7193518.stm>
CIA boss names Bhutto's killers
here are differing accounts of what caused Ms Bhutto's death
|
The CIA has added its support to the view that a Pakistani militant,
Baitullah Mehsud, and al-Qaeda organised Benazir Bhutto's killing.
CIA Director Michael Hayden told the Washington Post
that the former Pakistani prime minister was killed by fighters allied
to Baitullah Mehsud.
The Pakistani government accused Mehsud of the attack shortly after Ms Bhutto's death in Rawalpindi on 27 December.
Mr Hayden did not reveal the sources for his claim.
Correspondents say that Mr Hayden's comments are the
most comprehensive public assessment by US intelligence of Ms Bhutto's
death.
Controversy still surrounds the circumstances of the killing.
One or more attackers shot at her and detonated a bomb as she was leaving a rally in Rawalpindi.
Dutch prosecutors continue probe of Joma Sison
01/18/2008 | 07:45 PM
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – The Dutch national prosecutor's office
confirmed Friday it will continue its murder investigation of exiled
former Philippine communist leader Jose Maria Sison, despite
discouragement from judges hearing the case.
"The criminal investigation into the involvement of ... Jose Maria
Sison in murder attacks in the Philippines will be pursued,"
prosecutors said in a statement.
Sison was arrested in August but ordered released for lack of evidence in September.
Prosecutors accuse him of ordering the murder of Romulo Kintanar in
2003 and Arturo Tabara in 2004. The Communist Party of the Philippines,
which the European Union designated a terrorist group in 2002, has
claimed responsibility for both slayings.
The victims were both former party members who had broken with the group over ideological differences.
Sison helped found the party in 1968, but spent 10 years in prison
under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos and has been in the Netherlands
for 20 more.
Sison, who denies any role in the killings, says he has been gone too long to hold any direct power in the organization.
Prosecutors lost an appeal of the decision to release him in October.
Judges said there was a "political context" to the charges.
In November, the Hague District Court said there was not enough evidence to warrant further investigation.
Prosecutors said then that they would likely press ahead anyway.
"It's an unusual situation," spokesman Wim de Bruin said then.
Friday's statement said the investigation would now continue until
mid-2008 at which point prosecutors will decide whether to bring the
matter back before a judge.
- AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/77084/Dutch-prosecutors-continue-probe-of-Joma-Sison>
Two Taiwanese Cabinet ministers resign over election debacle
01/18/2008 | 05:09 PM
TAIPEI, Taiwan - Two senior Taiwanese Cabinet ministers offered to
resign Friday, six days after the ruling Democratic Progressive Party
suffered a massive defeat in legislative elections.
Government Information Office head Shieh Jhy-wey said he wanted quit
ahead of the Cabinet's planned en masse resignation on Jan. 28, and an
assistant to Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng said Tu wanted to go
as well.
The role of the pair in the legislative campaign was heavily criticized by party members, including Vice President Annette Lu.
In the legislative contest, the DPP won only 27 seats in the 113-seat
body. The main opposition Nationalists and their allies won the rest.
President Chen Shui-bian called the result the worst electoral showing
in the DPP's two-decade history.
Shieh said he resigned to mollify his critics, who blamed him for
contributing to the legislative defeat by employing tactics such as
reciting rap music to blast the opposition.
''During the legislative campaigns, I was the government spokesman,''
he said. ''Of course I need to take the blame when we suffer such a
defeat.''
Chief Education Secretary Chuang Kuo-jung confirmed that Tu wanted to
resign, but declined to comment on whether his resignation was related
to the legislative defeat.
''He told me after the election that he was planning on resigning,'' Chuang said, without elaborating.
Tu became a lightning rod for criticism for his role in removing the
name of iconic dictator Chiang Kai-shek from a downtown Taipei memorial
in December.
That move sparked outrage among both Chiang defenders and some
opponents, who said it was an affront to the memory of an important
figure in Taiwanese history. -
AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/77048/Two-Taiwanese-Cabinet-ministers-resign-over-election-debacle>
US court orders Libya to pay $6bn
70 people died when the UTA aircraft exploded over the Sahara
|
A US court has ordered Libya and six Libyan officials to pay more
than $6bn (£3bn) in damages over the bombing of a French aircraft over
Niger in 1989.
The award is payable to relatives of the seven US victims aboard UTA Flight 772, and the aircraft's American owner.
Libya has already agreed to pay $1m compensation to the
relatives of each of the 170 people on board the flight - but has
denied any link to the bombing.
It paid compensation over a similar attack over Lockerbie in Scotland.
Lawyers for the US victims of UTA 772 say Libya has until 25 February to decide whether to appeal against the order.
The huge award is made against Libya and six named officials.
It represents:
- the value of the aircraft
- compensation for the pain and suffering of the victims
- compensation for the pain and suffering of the victims' families
- money the victims would have earned if they had lived
- interest backdated to the day of the bombing.
Under American law, awards against individuals, though not the Libyan state, are tripled because it is a terrorism case.
"This award proves that the rule of law will always
prevail over state-sponsored terrorism," said Stuart Newberger, a
lawyer for the victims' families.
The seven US victims included Bonnie Pugh, whose husband Robert was then the US ambassador to Chad. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7191278.stm>
Canada FM regrets 'torture list'
Mr Bernier said he regretted the embarrassment the manual caused
|
The Canadian foreign minister has apologised for including the US
and Israel on a list of states where prisoners are at risk of torture.
Maxime Bernier said the list, which formed part of a
manual on torture awareness given to diplomats, "wrongly includes some
of our closest allies".
Mr Bernier insisted the manual was not a policy document and did not convey the official views of his government.
The listing was criticised by the US and Israel, who demanded it be changed.
"We find it to be offensive for us to be on the same
list with countries like Iran and China. Quite frankly it's absurd,"
said the US ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins.
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Ottawa, Michael
Mendel, said the Israeli Supreme Court was "on record as expressly
prohibiting any type of torture".
US remains Cuba's top food source
01/22/2008 | 06:35 PM
HAVANA – The United States remained Cuba's main supplier of food and
farm products in 2007, selling the communist-run island more than $600
million (€413 million) in agricultural exports despite its trade
embargo, a top official said Monday.
Cuba imported roughly the same amount of agricultural products as it
did in 2006, but rising production and transportation costs forced it
to spend $30 million (€21 million) more than the $570 million (€392
million) it paid two years ago for the same goods, said Pedro Alvarez,
chairman of Cuba's food import company Alimport.
Alvarez's comments came during a joint news conference with California
Secretary of Food and Agriculture A.G. Kawamura, who is in Cuba on a
trade mission and is hoping America's largest food-producing state can
one day sell as much as $180 million (€124 million) in agricultural
prodcuts to the island. It was the state's first agricultural mission
to Cuba.
Washington's nearly 50-year-old trade embargo prevents US tourists from
visiting Cuba and prohibits nearly all trade. But a law passed by the
US Congress in 2000 allows the Cuban government to buy US food and
agricultural products with direct cash payments.
Cuba at first balked at the measure, but reversed course after a
hurricane ravaged parts of the island in November 2001. The government
has since spent more than $2.7 billion (€1.8 billion) on US farm
products and the related shipping and banking expenses that it factors
into import totals, Alvarez said.
The US has been the island's top food source since 2003.
US companies in 35 states ship roughly 1,600 types of agricultural
products to Cuba, Alvarez said, declining to specify which state is its
top supplier, or which product its top import. US wheat, chicken and
soy are big sellers, he added.
California produces 400 types of farm products, including wheat, wine
and all types of fruits, vegetables and nuts. Kawamura said it exports
about a quarter of that produce, but sends less than $1 million (€0.69
million) in goods a year to Cuba.
"That's a very small amount of money compared to the rest of the states
that are doing business here," Kawamura said, noting that a study by
his office found $180 million in Californian products that could
potentially be exported to the island.
Kawamura was accompanied by owners of some top California agricultural
firms, who are negotiating private contracts directly with Cuban
authorities. He also planned to meet with government officials and tour
state-run farms.
Agricultural secretaries from 19 states have visited Cuba, although Kawamura is the first from California to do so.
"The door's already been opened. There's plenty of business being done
here," he said. "Some of us arguably might be late getting here, but
we're here."
- AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/77554/US-remains-Cubas-top-food-source>
UNDP 'exploited by North Korea'
The US had said North Korean leaders were using UNDP money
|
A UN agency operating in North Korea left itself open to exploitation, a US Senate investigation has found.
A Senate committee criticised the United Nations
Development Programme for inappropriate staffing decisions and lax
financial controls.
The probe followed US claims North Korea was siphoning off UNDP money.
A UN probe last year found that although rules had been
broken, there was no evidence of systematic diversion of funds to North
Korean officials.
UNDP pulled out of North Korea last year, after
Pyongyang refused to comply with changes to operating policies after
problems were exposed. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7206144.stm>
Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US
Agence France-Presse
Published: Thursday December 20, 2007
The
Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and
Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States,
leaders said Wednesday.
"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all
those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are
free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a
handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy,
gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a
news conference.
A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State
Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing
from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United
States, some of them more than 150 years old.
They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and
Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and
take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news
conference.
Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences,
and living there would be tax-free -- provided residents renounce their
US citizenship, Means said.
The treaties signed with the United States are merely "worthless
words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists say on their
website.
The treaties have been "repeatedly violated in order to steal our
culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life," the
reborn freedom movement says. <http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Descendants_of_Sitting_Bull_Crazy_Horse_1220.html>
Learning survival with the US Air Force
|
By Frank Gardner
BBC News, Spokane, Washington
|
In the frozen forests of America's far north-west,
the US Air Force (USAF) is busy training its crews for the unthinkable:
escaping from a downed aircraft behind enemy lines while being hunted
down.
It's midwinter here and this is where the latest recruits are being put through their survival training.
Ducking and dodging between fir trees weighed down with
snow, stumbling and falling in their outsize snowshoes, while learning
how to signal to rescue aircraft without being detected.
|
We're dealing with people that aren't conventional, they didn't sign the Geneva Conventions
|
This is what they call "SERE" training - survival, evasion, resistance and escape.
The USAF has been putting its aircrews through it ever since the Korean War in the 1950s.
But since 9/11, with ongoing combat operations in Iraq
and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has ordered a new urgency to this
training. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7207465.stm>
Iraq moves against Mosul al-Qaeda
The force of Wednesday's blast levelled the block of flats
|
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has announced the start of a major
offensive against al-Qaeda militants in the northern Iraqi city of
Mosul.
"Today, the troops have moved to Mosul... and the fight there will be decisive," he said in Karbala city.
The move comes after 34 people died and hundreds were injured in a blast on Wednesday at a block of flats in Mosul.
A day later a local police chief and two officers died in an ambush after they toured the scene of the explosion.
Brig Gen Saleh Mohammed Hassan was fleeing the area after gunmen opened fire on his convoy, reports say.
The convoy was hit by an explosion that also killed two other police officers. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7208555.stm>
Palestinian radical founder dies
|
George Habash supported violence against Israel
|
The founder of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP), George Habash, has died in Jordan, associates say.
Habash died of a heart attack, one of his former colleagues said. He was around 80 years old.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called three days of national mourning.
Under Habash's leadership the PFLP became known as one
of the most radical Palestinian militant groups, notorious for plane
hijackings.
In September 1970 it captured four airliners, later
blowing them up in front of the world's cameras, once the passengers
had been removed.
The group also fired at Israeli aircraft and their crew,
carried out bombings, and took hostages including, on one occasion,
Opec leaders meeting in Vienna.
'Historic leader'
George Habash was born in Lydda, in British-ruled
Palestine - which is now Lod in Israel - and was forced to flee when
war broke out in 1948.
|
Satellite could plummet to Earth
o details of the satellite were given
|
A "large" US spy satellite has gone out of control and is expected
to crash to Earth some time in late February or March, government
sources say.
Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the
satellite had lost power and propulsion, and could contain hazardous
materials.
The White House said it was monitoring the situation.
A spokesman said "numerous" satellites had come out of orbit and fallen back to Earth harmlessly over the years.
"We are looking at potential options to mitigate any
possible damage this satellite may cause," said Gordon Johndroe, who
speaks for the US National Security Council.
Questioned by The Associated Press, he would not be
drawn on whether the US would try to destroy the satellite, perhaps
with a missile.
Powers agree on UN Iran sanctions
|
China and Russia had questioned the need for more sanctions on Iran
|
A draft UN resolution on new sanctions against Iran will include
calls for trade curbs and a travel ban for Iran's nuclear scientists,
diplomats say.
The US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany have
agreed to put the draft measures to the UN security council, the BBC's
Laura Trevelyan has learned.
Two sets of UN sanctions have already been imposed on Iran, to punish it for continuing to enrich uranium.
Iran denies claims that it wants to use the technology to build a nuclear bomb.
The proposed sanctions include calls for restrictions on
government-backed trade with Iran, and also cargo controls to ensure
countries are not selling anything to Iran which would help it make a
nuclear bomb.
|
The lasting legacy of Suharto
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By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Bangkok
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Suharto gave himself the title Father of Development
|
If Suharto, who has died at the age of 86, had the kind of pumped-up
ego we usually associate with powerful politicians, he never let it
show.
In fact he rarely betrayed any emotion.
In stark contrast to his fiery and extrovert predecessor
Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, Suharto exuded a sense of calm
detachment, his face an enigmatic mask that gave away little.
He kept himself aloof from foreigners and Indonesians
alike, almost never granting interviews, only addressing the public
sparingly in set-piece speeches which he delivered in a monotone mumble
with all the charisma of a junior civil servant.
He left no statues of himself, no parks or roads were
named after him, and only on special occasions did you see his face up
on billboards, although in the last years of his rule it did appear on
the largest-denomination banknote.
Indonesians often found it difficult to pin down what they felt about the man who had towered over their lives for so long.
For most he remained an opaque, distant figure.
They certainly feared him.
Germany rejects US troops appeal
Mr Jung has just visited German troops in Afghanistan
|
Germany has rejected a US appeal to send more troops to Afghanistan, amid signs of strain in the Nato mission.
The US defence secretary had used a strongly worded letter to urge larger German deployment to south Afghanistan.
But his German counterpart, Franz Josef Jung, bluntly
ruled out deploying any German soldiers to the area, which is at the
heart of the Taleban insurgency.
In his letter, Mr Gates warned that without reinforcements the Nato effort could lose credibility in Afghanistan.
He urged Germany to consider a new mandate which could allow thousands more troops to be deployed.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7222989.stm>
US Afghan stand-off puzzles Nato allies
|
Caroline Wyatt
Defence Correspondent, BBC News
|
The US has warned that gains in Afghanistan could slip away
|
The recent attempts by the US to urge its allies to
boost their combat roles in southern Afghanistan has both puzzled and
antagonised some Nato members, who see it as unconstructive and driven
mainly by America's domestic politics.
In a rather testy answer to US Defence Secretary Robert
Gates' demands for more combat troops, Germany has made it clear it is
doing all it can in northern Afghanistan.
In his response, the German defence minister reminded
America that the mandate for its 3,200 troops was set by the country's
parliament last year, so could not be changed.
America feels that it is bearing the brunt of the
fighting in the south, and is sending in another 3,000 marines to
reinforce its operations there - leaving Mr Gates and the US
administration having to explain to the American public why other Nato
allies are not doing the same. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7223559.stm>
Poland 'agrees' to host US shield
Poland's neighbour Russia is opposed to the US shield
|
Poland and the US have reached an agreement in principle to install
a controversial American missile defence system on Polish soil.
In return for hosting part of the shield, the US has said it will help bolster Poland's air defences.
The US wants to install interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.
Russia opposes the project, saying it would destabilise global security and undermine its own nuclear deterrent.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared
the plans to the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s, which saw the US
and Soviet Union go to the brink of nuclear war.
Russia has threatened to point missiles at Europe if the US positions elements of the new missile shield near its borders. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7223568.stm>
FBI nod to Cambodia security role
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh
|
Mr Mueller said Cambodia was a key part of a global security network
|
The top US law enforcement official has described Cambodia as an important country in anti-terrorism efforts.
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), Robert Mueller, was opening an FBI office at the US embassy in
Phnom Penh.
He will also be visiting neighbouring Vietnam on his trip.
Mr Mueller is the first director of the FBI ever to
visit Cambodia, but he is the latest in a succession of senior US
officials to spend time in Phnom Penh.
With Vietnam also on his itinerary, it would seem that new relationships are finally emerging from past hostilities.
|
It's important for us ... to coordinate on the trans-national investigations that one often finds in this age of globalisation
|
The opening of an FBI office in Cambodia is the latest indication of increasing US engagement in the region.
After cutting the ribbon at the inauguration, Mr Mueller said he saw Cambodia as a key part of a global security network.
"It's an important country to us because of the
potential for persons transiting Cambodia or utilising Cambodia as a
spot for terrorism," he said.
Swimming with Jeeps off Vanuatu
|
By Nick Squires
BBC, South Pacific
|
Sixty years on from World War II, an act of
environmental vandalism is proving to be a valuable asset for the tiny
South Pacific nation of Vanuatu.
Scattered on the seabed is what looks like the shattered remains of a phantom army.
Peering through my diver's mask at first I could make out little more than ghostly shapes.
USS President Coolidge was a liner before becoming a troop ship
|
But as I descended deeper into the green-tinged gloom, a bizarre sight unfolded before me.
Resting on the seabed were military trucks, up-ended jeeps, and powerful-looking army bulldozers.
There were twisted metal girders and rubber tyres, their treads still clearly visible.
Insurgency not spreading in Afghanistan - NATO
02/03/2008 | 10:19 PM
KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban insurgency is not spreading and 70
percent of the violence last year occurred in only 10 percent of the
country, NATO said Sunday, in contrast with other recent more
pessimistic reports.
Lt. Col. Claudia Foss, a spokeswoman for NATO's International Security
Assistance Force, said three-quarters of Afghanistan suffered one
violent incident per week.
''It is becoming increasingly clear that the insurgent movement is being contained,'' Foss told a press conference in Kabul.
Her comments followed a series of pessimistic assessments of the
situation in Afghanistan, which said a resurgent Taliban is challenging
the United States and its allies.
An independent study co-chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James
Jones and former UN Ambassador Thomas Pickering warned last week that
Afghanistan risks becoming a failed state because of deteriorating
international support and the growing Taliban insurgency.
At the same time, most of NATO's European members are refusing to send
soldiers to Afghanistan's dangerous south, opening a rift between the
US, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and others that have borne the
brunt of fighting.
A British Cabinet minister called on the allies Sunday to send troops to the south, where most of the fighting happens. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/79103/Insurgency-not-spreading-in-Afghanistan---NATO>
Iranians inaugurate space project
he rocket was launched from a secret desert location
|
Iran has launched a research rocket to inaugurate a newly built space centre, state television reports.
Pictures of the launch were broadcast to cries of "God is Great" from the television announcer.
The test was for Iran's first low-orbit research satellite, which is planned for launch in March next year.
Correspondents say advances in Tehran's missile
technology are likely to alarm Western powers, as Iran presses on with
a controversial nuclear programme.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says it is a highly
symbolic moment for the launch, on the 29th anniversary of the Iranian
revolution.
US admits killing Iraqi civilians
The US military has admitted accidentally killing nine Iraqi civilians, including a child, during raids south of Baghdad.
In a statement, it said the civilian deaths occurred on
Saturday near the town of Iskandariya, 50km (30 miles) from the Iraqi
capital.
It added that three more civilians, two of them children, were wounded "as coalition forces pursued al-Qaeda".
Witnesses say 20 people were killed in an US air strike in the area.
They said the dead included 17 members of the same family.
In a statement, the US military said: "Shortly after the
incident, coalition forces leaders met with a sheikh representing the
citizens of the local area.
"The incident is under investigation. We offer our
condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident,
and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life."
'Deep state plot' grips Turkey
|
By Sarah Rainsford
BBC News, Istanbul
|
Writer Orhan Pamuk was reportedly on the gang's assassination list
|
It is a story that has set Turkey abuzz with rumour and speculation.
At its heart is an ultra-nationalist gang known as
Ergenekon, exposed when 33 of its alleged members were seized in a
police raid in late January.
The claims widely reported in the Turkish press ever since read like a thriller.
They allege the gang was plotting to bring down the government.
It is claimed their plan was to assassinate a string of
Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, fomenting
chaos and provoking a military intervention in 2009.
A "menu" of targets had already been drawn up and a hitman hired when the police swooped, according to the daily Hurriyet.
Sabah newspaper linked the gang to the recent murder of three Protestant Christians and Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
Those details - apparently leaked by police - have never been officially confirmed.
The lawyers of several of the accused told the BBC only
that their clients have been charged under Article 313 of the penal
code for inciting armed revolt against the government.
Those still detained include retired Brig Gen Veli
Kucuk, an alleged mafia boss and an ultra-nationalist lawyer who
provoked numerous prosecutions against prominent Turkish writers and
intellectuals - including Mr Pamuk - for "insulting Turkishness". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7225889.stm>
Google criticizes Microsoft-Yahoo deal
02/04/2008 | 09:21 AM
SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. raised the specter of Microsoft Corp. using
its proposed $42 billion acquisition of Yahoo Inc. to gain illegal
control over the Internet, underscoring the online search leader's
queasiness about its two biggest rivals teaming up.
The critical remarks, posted online Sunday by Google's top lawyer,
represented the Mountain View-based company's first public reaction to
Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo since the offer was announced
Friday.
"Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions," David
Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, wrote. "This is about more than
simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's
about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness
and innovation."
Google's opposition isn't a surprise, given that Microsoft views Yahoo
as a crucial weapon in its battle to gain ground on Google in the
Internet's booming search and advertising markets.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has been trying to depict a Yahoo
takeover as a boon for both advertisers and consumers because the two
companies together would be able to compete against Google more
effectively.
But Google is painting a starkly different picture, asserting that
Microsoft will be able to stifle innovation and leverage its dominating
Windows operating system to set up personal computers so consumers are
automatically steered to online services, such as e-mail and instant
messaging, controlled by the world's largest software maker.
To help make its point, Google pointed to the way Microsoft previously
used Windows to help extend the reach of its Web browser and other
applications — a strategy that triggered a US Justice Department
lawsuit alleging the software maker illegally used its operating system
to stifle competition. The dispute ended with a 2002 settlement that
required Microsoft to abandon some of its past practices.
"Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate
and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?"
Drummond wrote. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/79137/Google-criticizes-Microsoft-Yahoo-deal>
Sniffling mice raise therapy hope
New treatments can now be tested in mice
|
Scientists have created a mouse that can catch a cold - raising
hopes of new ways to treat serious respiratory conditions and asthma.
It had been thought rhinoviruses, which cause most human
colds and can trigger asthma attacks, could only affect higher
primates.
The researchers hope their genetically modified mice will provide a valuable test-bed for potential new medications.
The study, led by London's Imperial College, appears in Nature Medicine.
Rhinoviruses are the major cause of acute attacks of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) - another name for
chronic bronchitis and emphysema - which can be fatal.
Although they were discovered 50 years ago, the failure
to find a way to infect small animals has proved to be a major
stumbling block to developing new treatments.
Study: US babies might have been exposed to chemical restricted in California
02/04/2008 | 01:53 PM
CHICAGO - Baby shampoos, lotions and powders may expose infants to
chemicals that have been linked with possible reproductive problems, a
small study suggests.
The chemicals, called phthalates, are found in many ordinary products
including cosmetics, toys, vinyl flooring and medical supplies. They
are used to stabilize fragrances and make plastics flexible.
In the study, they were found in elevated levels in the urine of babies
who'd been recently shampooed, powdered or lotioned with baby products.
Phthalates (pronounced thowl-ates) are under attack by some
environmental advocacy groups, but experts are uncertain what dangers,
if any, they might pose. The federal government doesn't limit their
use, although California and some countries have restricted their use.
Animal studies have suggested that phthalates can cause reproductive
birth defects and some activists believe they may cause reproductive
problems in boys and early puberty in girls. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/79174/Study-US-babies-might-have-been-exposed-to-chemical-restricted-in-California>
World looks to post-Bush era
|
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent BBC News website
|
Frontrunners for a new era: Republican John McCain...
|
The world is sitting up to take notice of an
intriguing US presidential election campaign as the Bush era of US
foreign policy draws to an end.
The importance of who is in the White House is
illustrated best by President George W Bush himself. If Al Gore had won
the election in 2000, it is unlikely that the US would have invaded
Iraq.
In a speech in September 2002, Mr Gore predicted one of
the consequences that might flow from an invasion, one which many in
the US and around the world are now looking to this election to
resolve. It had, he said, "the potential to seriously damage our
ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our ability to
lead the world in this new century".
There is a sense now that the rest of the world has an opportunity to re-engage with the United States.
"They feel there's a real chance to work with the US,"
said Julianne Smith, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington. "America's image in the world is
really on the line."
Non-Americans, she said, were looking for someone who could "restore faith in the United States." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7230301.stm>
Nabil's story
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