Policing the World (Ongoing):

A draft resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and a number of his key allies has been vetoed at the UN Security Council.

China and Russia both rejected the proposed measures, including a freeze on their financial assets and travel.

There has been growing international criticism of Zimbabwe since the re-election of Mr Mugabe in a run-off boycotted by the opposition.

David Miliband said Russia used its veto despite a promise by President Dmitry Medvedev to support the resolution, when it was discussed at this week's summit of the G-8 group of industrialised nations.

The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Russia's veto raised "questions about its reliability as a G8 partner".

A BBC correspondent at the UN says the failure of the resolution is a major blow for the United States and Britain.

"The people of Zimbabwe need to be given hope that there is an end in sight to their suffering," said Sir John Sawers. "The Security Council today has failed to offer them that hope."

However, Russia's ambassador Vitaly Churkin said sanctions would have taken the UN beyond its mandate.

"People have been able to see the machinations of Washington, London and France," said Boniface Chidyausiku.

South Africa voted against the sanctions resolution. It has promoted a power-sharing arrangement between President Mugabe and the opposition. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7502965.stm>

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe say they want to promote closer ties, after months of political tension.

Speaking after a one-day meeting in Venezuela, Mr Chavez said that a new era of co-operation was dawning.

Relations hit their lowest point in March, when Mr Chavez sent troops to the border following a Colombian raid against a rebel camp inside Ecuador.

Although the two countries are major trading partners, relations have suffered because their two leaders come from opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Mr Uribe is a right-winger who is a close ally of the United States, while socialist Mr Chavez regularly denounces Washington and has allied himself with Cuba.

The two men also differed sharply over Colombia's Farc rebel group, with Mr Uribe seeking military action against it, while Mr Chavez gave them some ideological support.

But the freeing of 15 high-profile Farc hostages - including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt - by the Colombian army last week has strengthened Mr Uribe's position, correspondents say. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7502362.stm>

President Lee Myung-bak has proposed reviving direct talks with North Korea - telling parliament he was willing to carry out previous bilateral summit accords and provide the impoverished North with food aid.

When President Lee was swept to power in his landslide election victory last year, he was promising that his term in office would mark a change of approach towards North Korea.

"The most important thing is for North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons," the conservative leader told his first news conference as president-elect.

"Serious economic exchanges between the two Koreas can only start after the North dismantles its weapons," he added.

The negotiations have been long, tough and sometimes angry, but now Lebanon's politicians have reached an agreement on a government of national unity.

Under the terms of a deal reached in Doha in May, the share of seats was never in doubt - but over the past seven weeks the exact composition of the new cabinet often was.

That deal brought to an end a week of violence during which scores of people were killed, and Lebanon appeared close to a return to civil war.

Both of Lebanon's political groupings agreed on the former army chief, Michel Suleiman, who is as close to a neutral public figure as you can find in Lebanon at the moment.

He will preside over the first government since November 2006 with representatives from all the major parties.

There will be 30 ministers - 16 of them from the Western-leaning parties, who back the Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora.

Eleven are supporters of what was the opposition grouping, which includes Hezbollah.

The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan's government militarily in Darfur.

The Panorama TV programme tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005.

The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.

China's government has declined to comment on the BBC's findings, which contravene a UN arms embargo on Darfur.

The embargo requires foreign nations to take measures to ensure they do not militarily assist anyone in the conflict in Darfur, in which the UN estimates that about 300,000 people have died.

More than two million people are also believed to have fled their villages in Darfur, destroyed by pro-government Arab Janjaweed militia. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7503428.stm>

An investigation by the International Institute For Strategic Studies found that only 2.7% of military personnel were ready for overseas operations.

In 2007 Europe had some 71,000 military personnel deployed overseas, out of nearly two million service personnel.

Alexander Nicoll, one of the co-authors of the report, said "most European armed forces are unable to live up to their own targets for availability".

"The Nato goal - that 40% of land forces should be deployable - seems much too low. We don't see why it should it be acceptable that any part of a nation's armed forces cannot be put to use... targets for deployability should be much higher," he said.

Among other deficiencies in European military capability the report highlighted the shortage of "niche" skills, the waste of money through military procurement delays and insufficient investment in new defence technology.

The international security operation in Afghanistan has highlighted tensions between Nato allies, with Germany especially drawing criticism over its reluctance to commit troops to high-intensity combat.

The 27 EU countries spent 204bn euros (£162bn) on defence in 2006, according to the report, European Military Capabilities, which took three years to compile.

"Much more could be done to modernise Europe's armed forces, to have a higher proportion of them available, to be better equipped, better able to inter-operate with other nations' troops - and all at better value to the taxpayer," Mr Nicoll said.

He said the military policies of France and the UK "will, above all else, determine Europe's ability to have strong and coherent capabilities in the future". He said the two countries stood out as "strategic powers, capable of significant individual action". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7499579.stm>

On a hillside high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan there are three charred clearings where the American bombs struck.

Scattered around are chunks of twisted metal, blood stains and small fragments of sequinned and brightly decorated clothes - the material Afghan brides wear on their wedding day.

After hours of driving to the village deep in the bandit country of Nangarhar's mountains we heard time and again the terrible account of that awful day.

What began as celebration ended with maybe 52 people dead, most of them women and children, and others badly injured.

The US forces said they targeted insurgents in a strike. But from what I saw with my own eyes and heard from the many mourners, no militants were among the dead. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7504574.stm>

US presidential contender Barack Obama has repeatedly seized on statements attributed to Iraqi leaders to support his call for a troop withdrawal deadline.

The key statement cited by Mr Obama and others was made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki last Monday in his address to Arab ambassadors in the United Arab Emirates.

The prime minister was widely quoted as saying that in the negotiations with the Americans on a Status of Forces Agreement to regulate the US troop presence from next year, "the direction is towards either a memorandum of understanding on their evacuation, or a memorandum of understanding on a timetable for their withdrawal".

That was the version of Mr Maliki's remarks put out in writing by his office in Baghdad.

It was widely circulated by the news media, and caught much attention, including that of Mr Obama.

In an audio recording of his remarks, heard by the BBC, the prime minister did not use the word "withdrawal".

What he actually said was: "The direction is towards either a memorandum of understanding on their evacuation, or a memorandum of understanding on programming their presence."

Mr Maliki's own office had inserted the word "withdrawal" in the written version, replacing the word "presence".

Contacted by the BBC, the prime minister's office had no explanation for the apparent contradiction. An official suggested the written version remained the authoritative one, although it is not what Mr Maliki said.

The impression of a hardening Iraqi government line was reinforced the following day by comments from the National Security Adviser, Muwaffaq al-Rubaie.

He was quoted as saying that Iraq would not accept any agreement which did not specify a deadline for a full withdrawal of US troops.

Significantly, Mr Rubaie was speaking immediately after a meeting with the senior Shiite clerical eminence, Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

But in subsequent remarks, Mr Rubaie rode back from a straightforward demand for a withdrawal deadline.

He said the talks were focused on agreeing on "timeline horizons, not specific dates", and said that withdrawal timings would depend on the readiness of the Iraqi security forces. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7504571.stm>

Australian scientists have identified a potential treatment to combat malaria.

Researchers in Melbourne believe their discovery could be a major breakthrough in the fight against the disease.

The malaria parasite produces a glue-like substance which makes the cells it infects sticky, so they cannot be flushed through the body.

The researchers have shown removing a protein responsible for the glue can destroy its stickiness, and undermine the parasite's defence.

The malaria parasite produces the "glue" when it infects target red blood cells, enabling them to stick to the walls of blood vessels.

This stops them being pased through the spleen, where the parasites would usually be destroyed by the immune system.

Using genetic tests of the parasite, the Australian scientists identified eight proteins responsible for the production of the "glue".

Removing just one of these proteins stopped the cell from attaching itself to the walls of blood vessels.

Professor Alan Cowman, a member of the research team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, said targeting the protein with drugs could be a key to fighting malaria.

"If we block the stickiness we essentially block the virulence or the capacity of the parasite to cause disease," he said.

Malaria is preventable and curable, but can be fatal if not treated promptly. The disease kills more than a million people each year. Many of the victims are young children in sub-Saharan Africa. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7504649.stm>

The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) says only half of the extra land needed by 2030 is available without eating into tropical forested areas.

A companion report documents poor progress in reforming land ownership and governance in developing countries.

Supporters of RRI include the UK's Department of International Development (DfID) and its equivalents in Sweden and Switzerland.

"Arguably, we are on the verge of a last great global land grab," said RRI's Andy White, co-author of the major report, Seeing People through the Trees.

"It will mean more deforestation, more conflict, more carbon emissions, more climate change and less prosperity for everyone."

Rising demand for food, biofuels and wood for paper, building and industry means that 515 million hectares of extra land will be needed for growing crops and trees by 2030, RRI calculates.

They will get parenting supervision, with the worst 20,000 families facing eviction if they do not respond.

He aimed to make it "unacceptable" to carry a knife, with "prevention, enforcement and punishment" the focus.

The prime minister also urged more councils to impose 90-day teenage curfews "where there is a problem".

The comments came as he used his monthly news conference to defend the government's plans for tackling knife crime, which have been derided as "half-baked" by the Liberal Democrats. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7504646.stm>

Luis Moreno-Ocampo told judges at The Hague that Omar al-Bashir bore criminal responsibility for alleged atrocities committed over the past five years.

The three-judge panel must now decide whether there are reasonable grounds for an arrest warrant to be issued.

The country does not recognise the ICC and has refused to hand over two suspects who Mr Moreno-Ocampo charged last year, Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmad Harun and militia leader Ali Kushayb.

It has also labelled Mr Moreno-Ocampo a criminal, and warned that any indictment could stall peace talks and cause mayhem in Sudan.

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at The Hague says that while some will welcome this move as a victory for justice, others fear it may spark further violence.

The UN estimates that some 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur since 2003, while more than two million people have fled their homes.

Sudan's government is accused of mobilising Arab militias to attack black African civilians in Darfur, after rebels took up arms in 2003 - charges it denies. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7504640.stm>

The head of the national authority for the Preah Vihear temple said there was a stand-off, but had been no shooting.

Thai military officials said soldiers had been deployed on Thai territory nearby "to protect our sovereignty".

Earlier, three Thai protesters were arrested for illegally crossing the border in an attempt to enter the site.

It shows 16-year-old Omar Khadr being asked by Canadian officials in 2003 about events leading up to his capture by US forces, Canadian media have said.

The Canadian citizen is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.

The footage was made public by Mr Khadr's lawyers following a Supreme Court ruling in May that the Canadian authorities had to hand over key evidence against him to allow a full defence of the charges he is facing.

One of those lawyers, Dennis Edney, told the BBC his client was seen in a distressed state because he had been "abused" by his American guards.

"He was deprived of sleep by being removed from his cell and to another cell every three hours on a 24-hour basis for three weeks solid, followed by three weeks of deep solitary confinement," Mr Edney told the BBC.

Mr Khadr, the only Westerner still held at the jail, was 15 when he was captured by US forces during a gun battle at a suspected al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.

During the 10-minute video of his questioning in Guantanamo a year later, he can be seen crying, his face buried in his hands, pulling at his hair and repeatedly chanting.

At one point he lifts his orange shirt to show the foreign ministry official and agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) wounds on his back and stomach which he says he sustained in Afghanistan.

"I'm not a doctor, but I think you're getting good medical care," one of the officials responds.

Mr Khadr says: "No I'm not. You're not here... I lost my eyes. I lost my feet. Everything!" in reference to how his vision and physical health were affected.

"No, you still have your eyes and your feet are still at the end of your legs, you know," a man says.

Sobbing uncontrollably, Mr Khadr tells the officials several times: "You don't care about me."

Four Madrid bomb convicts cleared

About a thousand soldiers have died since Pakistan joined America's so-called "war on terror".

So the funerals of 11 more, killed last month along the Afghan-Pakistan border, should not have been anything unusual.

But those who attended the services described a feeling that had been absent in the past.

Many of the family members were clearly proud. They considered their sons martyrs who had died for the homeland.

Pakistani soldiers who were supposed to be fighting hand-in-hand with US forces against the Taleban had, in fact, been killed by US missiles.

The Americans said they had been aiming at militants. Pakistan called it an unprovoked act of aggression.

When soldiers here die fighting the pro-Taleban tribesmen in their border region, there is a debate about whether or not they are martyrs. Some religious scholars say that honour belongs to the Taleban, not to troops fighting their own people.

The return of six ministers from the Accordance Front to the cabinet was approved by lawmakers.

A spokesman for the Accord Front said its return was "a real step forward for political reform" in the predominantly Shia country.

The spokesman, Salim al-Joubouri, added that the bloc's approved candidates would attend the next cabinet meeting.

The official, William Burns, is joining envoys from the EU and permanent members of the UN security council.

Their talks with top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili were expected to focus on incentives for Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment.

The US and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the taking of hostages at the US embassy in Tehran.

Researchers at Birmingham University found they had a poorer immune response to a vaccine against pneumonia.

It appears that stress causes the immune system to function less efficiently, the team wrote in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Gen David Petraeus said there was evidence that foreign fighters were being diverted away from Iraq.

But he said there was no suggestion the militant Islamist group would entirely abandon the fight in Iraq.

Al-Qaeda evolved in Afghanistan and was closely-linked to the Taleban regime, toppled by US-led forces in 2001.

The deputy governor of Farah province, Younus Rasuli, said the foreign troops did not inform police they were coming and were mistaken for enemy fighters.

The two sides fought from midnight until about 4am, until the troops called in the airstrike, he said.

Iran must decide between confrontation and co-operation in the dispute over its nuclear plans, the US has warned.

At talks in Geneva, envoys from the US, EU and UN asked Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment in return for a pledge not to introduce new sanctions.

Iran gave no guarantees it would halt its activities, so the diplomats gave Tehran two weeks to provide an answer.

The meeting was the first time US and Iranian officials have held face-to-face talks on the nuclear issue.

Senior US official William Burns was present at the Geneva talks - although he made no public comment.

Instead, state department spokesman Sean McCormack issued a strongly-worded statement in Washington.

"We hope the Iranian people understand that their leaders need to make a choice between co-operation, which would bring benefits to all, and confrontation, which can only lead to further isolation," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7515589.stm>

The foreign affairs select committee said the UK and US differ on their definitions of what constitutes torture and it urged the UK to check US claims.

It recommended the government carry out an "exhaustive analysis of current US interrogation techniques."

The MPs also said the government should check claims that Britain is not used by the US for "rendition" flights.

The committee highlighted the technique of "water-boarding" - a practice which simulates drowning.

The US describes it as "a legal technique used in a specific set of circumstances" and President Bush has refused to ban it.

However, the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it is torture and "the UK unreservedly condemns the use of torture."

The prime minister also promised further support in training the Palestinian police, after talks with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Brown met Mr Abbas in Bethlehem after talks in Tel Aviv with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

The money pledged by the prime minister is part of ongoing financial backing for economic and social development in the territories.

Mr Brown said the assistance would help the "great entrepreneurial flair" of the Palestinian people come alive.

"The prospect, in my view, of economic prosperity in the future is another impetus for the peace talks to be successful," he said.

The prime minister said the West Bank barrier erected by Israel was "graphic evidence of the urgent need for justice for the Palestinian people" and an end to the occupation of Palestinian land.

However, he emphasised that progress will largely depend on establishing an end to violence and a resolution to disagreements over Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

He said that, as a child, he had learned about Bethlehem from the Bible as "a symbol of peace and a symbol of hope".

"Today, the wall here is graphic evidence of the urgent need for justice for the Palestinian people and an end to the occupation and the need for a viable Palestinian state," he said.

Mr Brown called on all parties to "seize the opportunity" to create "a Palestinian state that is viable alongside an Israel which is secure".

The prime minister's schedule also includes an address to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, on Monday - the first by a British head of government.

"This is the story of the atrocities that should have been prevented, the killings that should never have happened, the truth that everybody who loves humanity should know."

He said he was committed to enabling pupils from every school to go on trips to Auschwitz to learn about what happened there.

Mr Peres said it was "a real pleasure" to welcome Mr Brown, calling him "one of the most respected leaders of our time".

He also praised the British prime minister for his religious beliefs, voicing admiration that Mr Brown had been an economist for so long and also remained a "sincere believer".

During his trip, Mr Brown will stay at the King David Hotel - the British headquarters in colonial times.

They met in Cairo after the ICC's chief prosecutor said he would seek to indict Sudan's president on charges of war crimes and genocide in Darfur.

Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, said he would travel to Sudan on Sunday to discuss their plan.

Haile Menkerios, the UN's envoy to Zimbabwe, said the deal would be signed by President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The two sides are locked in a dispute over presidential elections - which they both claim to have won.

The deal comes on the day that a new banknote is issued, for 100bn Zimbabwe dollars - the latest sign of the country's economic meltdown.

Ramraja Prasad Singh lost a run-off in the constituent assembly to Nepali Congress party candidate Ram Baran Yadav by 282 votes to 308, reports say.

Nepal's president will be a largely ceremonial figure but plays a crucial role in forming the government.

The president must swear in a new prime minister - and correspondents say Mr Yadav's election could jeopardise efforts by the Maoists to form an administration.

A thick fringe of heavy, yellow sunflowers borders Maille on all sides, and in the village itself, there is barely a bench or a hanging basket which is not bursting with a lavish floral arrangement.

The houses are all uniformly white. None looks lived in enough to boast of any history.

Manicured, painted and polished, the streets here seem intent on putting up a good show.

But put your head round the door of the village cafe and the staircase - pock marked by bullet scars - immediately lets slip that Maille has another very different face.

Underneath the lacquered, surface display, lies a festering mass of sores and black secrets.

On the morning of the 25 August 1944, scores of German soldiers stormed into the village and began to kill every living creature they found in their path.

Children were slaughtered like chickens, babies butchered in front of their mothers and grandfathers hacked down like weeds.

Nearly every house, barn and farmyard was set alight and within a couple of brutal hours, Maille was almost obliterated, with 124 of its villagers massacred.

Ironically, at the same moment that the people of Maille were screaming in terror, the people of Paris were cheering with joy at their liberation.

The Great Global Warming Swindle attracted various complaints, including claims that it misled contributors.

In a long-awaited judgement, Ofcom says Channel 4 did not fulfil obligations to be impartial and to reflect a range of views on controversial issues.

However, it judges that the film did not mislead audiences "so as to cause harm or offence".

Channel 4 said it aired the documentary to demonstrate that "the debate" on climate change was not over.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the former UK government chief scientific adviser Sir David King were among those whose complaints were upheld.

The film's key contention was that the increase in atmospheric temperatures observed since the 1970s was not primarily caused by emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.

First aired by Channel 4 in March 2007, the documentary has since reportedly been sold to 21 countries and distributed on DVD.

Among discussion groups of "climate sceptics", it is sometimes cited as a counter to Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth and has been credited with infuencing public opinion on the causes of modern-day climate change.

An Ipsos Mori survey in the UK last month concluded: "Many believe leading scientists remain undecided on the exact causes of climate change".

The regulator backed Sir David's complaint of unfair treatment, judging that his views were misrepresented and that he was not given the right to reply.

Ofcom also found in favour of Carl Wunsch, an oceanographer interviewed for the programme, who said he had been misled as to its intent.

Dr Wunsch, from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, said he believed he was being asked to take part in a programme that would "discuss in a balanced way the complicated elements of understanding of climate change", but "what we now have is an out-and-out propaganda piece, in which there is not even a gesture toward balance".

The Broadcasting Code requires Channel 4 to show "due impartiality" on "matters of major political and industrial controversy and major matters relating to current public policy".

The last segment of the programme, dealing with the politics of climate change, broke this obligation, Ofcom judged, and did not reflect a range of views, as required under the code.

However, the regulator said it did not believe, given the nature of the programme, that this led to the audience being "materially misled so as to cause harm or offence" - the standard that Ofcom says complaints have to reach.

While some of the 265 complaints received by Ofcom were short and straightforward, one group assembled a 176-page document alleging 137 breaches of the Broadcasting Code.

But these days the site is dominated by a huge tower of scaffolding, topped by a yellow mobile crane, which dwarfs King Ezana's obelisk, the one royal monument still standing.

Inside the scaffolding lies part of the Axum Obelisk, looted by Italian troops in 1937 during their brief occupation of Abyssinia.

Italy returned the 1,700-year-old monument in 2005, after decades of negotiations between the two countries.

The obelisk, which weighs more than 150 tonnes, had to be cut up into three pieces to be taken to Ethiopia. Now it is being restored and resurrected back in its original home. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7505957.stm>

Oyster card hack to be published

Asean grapples with Thai-Cambodia dispute

The Los Angeles Times said Bruce Ivins, 62, had taken an overdose of painkillers. It said he had recently been told of the impending prosecution.

There has been no official comment but unnamed sources said prosecutors were to indict and seek the death penalty.

Security measures in the wake of the anthrax attacks temporarily closed a Senate building and increased the public's fear of their vulnerability to terrorism.

Dr Ivins worked for the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

As a microbiologist he helped the FBI investigate the anthrax-tainted envelopes.

Fatah officials Ibrahim Abu Naja and Zakaria Agha were among those detained as part of a continuing Hamas crackdown following a coastal bombing last week.

Mr Abbas appointed the two men to run Fatah in Gaza when the Islamist Hamas seized control of the area in 2007.

Approval was granted after the agency's 35-nation board met in the Austrian capital, Vienna, officials said.

India's government recently survived a confidence vote over the deal, and says it is vital to meet energy demands.

Critics say the plan rewards a non-proliferation outsider. IAEA approval is a key condition for enacting it.

India must now win an unprecedented waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) later in August which would allow it to trade in sensitive nuclear materials.

The accusation was made in briefings to the New York Times and the Washington Post by US government officials.

The allegation that Pakistani spies helped plan the attack is apparently based on intercepted communications.

Pakistan's government called the report "total rubbish", saying there was no proof for the allegations.

"We reject it. No one has given any evidence to us. It's just an allegation," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told Reuters news agency.

More than 50 people were killed in the blast, including two senior Indian diplomats. It was the bloodiest in the Afghan capital since the Taleban were driven from power in 2001.

In court documents defending a lawsuit brought against its Street View mapping tool it has asserted that "complete privacy doesn't exist."

But, points out the US National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) it responded to a Californian politician's concerns about its growth by saying that it "takes privacy very seriously".

Physicians for Human Rights says it has documented about 30 cases of people from Gaza being denied treatment for not providing information.

An Israeli official dismissed the claims, saying patients were only questioned as a security measure.

The report says that Palestinian patients have "become an accessible and important target for the GSS [General Security Services] for the purposes of recruiting and gathering information".

The group cites cases in which patients were summoned for questioning and others where patients did not come to a crossing for fear of being arrested. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7540125.stm>

Govt position on homeland issue kept secret - Esperon

Mr Rashid, who has written a best-selling book on the Taleban and is an authority on the region, is also a BBC News website guest columnist. He spoke to the BBC's Soutik Biswas.

The Beijing games have, after all, been billed as the "coming out party" for the world's rising superpower.

A recent survey found 86% of Chinese happy with the direction that the country is taking - the highest score of any country surveyed.

An opinion poll commissioned by the BBC's Newsnight - and conducted in the United States, Britain, Brazil, India and South Korea - finds some wariness of China's new global dominance.

Mother-of-three Aafia Siddiqui, 36, an ex-student at the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), faces charges of trying to kill US agents.

However, her family and rights groups say she has spent the last five years in jails secretly run by the US.

At a news conference on Tuesday in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, Ms Siddiqui's sister said: "Aafia was tortured for five years until one day US authorities announce that they have found her in Afghanistan."

A team from Durham University compiled the outline of potential hotspots by basing the design on historical and ongoing arguments over ownership.

Russian scientists caused outrage last year when they planted their national flag on the seabed at the North Pole.

"Its primary purpose is to inform discussions and debates because, frankly, there has been a lot of rubbish about who can claim (sovereignty) over what," explained Martin Pratt, director of the university's International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU).

"To be honest, most of the other maps that I have seen in the media have been very simple," he added.

"We have attempted to show all known claims; agreed boundaries and one thing that has not appeared on any other maps, which is the number of areas that could be claimed by Canada, Denmark and the US."

The team used specialist software to construct the nations' boundaries, and identify what areas could be the source of future disputes.

"All coastal states have rights over the resources up to 200 nautical miles from their coastline," Mr Pratt said. "So, we used specialist geographical software to 'buffer' the claims out accurately."

Bush cites oppression, human rights abuses in Asia

08/07/2008 | 04:29 PM
BANGKOK, Thailand - President Bush praised the spread of freedom in Asia while training a harsh spotlight Thursday on the region's democratic laggards, sharply criticizing oppression and human rights abuses in China, Myanmar and North Korea.

Bush's speech, outlining America's achievements and challenges in Asia as he wraps up eight years in office, came on the same day he was due to arrive in Beijing to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and several days of competition. China has rounded up opponents and slapped restrictions on journalists, betraying promises made when it landed the hosting rights.

Chinese officials had bristled at Bush's criticism and his meeting with Chinese activists at the White House last week. A spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing said there was no comment at this time to the speech, but the country's leaders were unlikely to be pleased at the criticism on the eve of their proud moment as Olympic hosts.

At the same time, Bush has come under pressure to use his Beijing visit to openly press China's leaders for greater religious tolerance and other freedoms.

The White House's handling of the speech demonstrated the president's delicate balancing act.

In what appeared to be an effort to ease embarrassment for Beijing as it prepared for its splashy appearance on the world stage, Bush's address containing the criticism of China was delivered outside the country, in Thailand. The White House took the unusual step of releasing the text of it even earlier, about 18 hours before he spoke.

And the speech was followed by a string of events Thursday, by both the president and his wife, Laura, that were clearly aimed at shifting the focus to the repressive military regime in Myanmar, neighbor to Thailand, where Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej regards himself as a friend of Myanmar's generals. Myanmar, also known as Burma, marks the 20th anniversary of a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy activists on Friday.

The Bush administration has become increasingly vocal about Myanmar in recent months, blaming a corrupt regime for failing to help its citizens after a devastating cyclone in May, in large part by initially failing to accept international help and then only with tight restrictions, and for violently suppressing democracy demonstrations by Buddhist monks in last September's so-called Saffron Revolution.

Mrs. Bush, the administration's highest-profile spokeswoman on the issue, flew for the day to northwestern Thailand to visit a border refugee camp. The Mae La camp is home to 38,000 Karen, an ethnic minority that human rights organizations say is the target of an ongoing Myanmar military campaign marked by murders of civilians, rapes and razing of villages. She also stopped at a health clinic run by a woman known as the "Mother Teresa of Burma."

Remaining in Bangkok, the president was briefed at the U.S. ambassador's residence on recovery from the cyclone that devastated Myanmar's heartland and killed more than 80,000 people, had lunch with nine Burmese activists and did an interview with local radio journalists in hopes of influencing events across the border.

Bush called the activists "courageous people," saying he wanted to hear their stories and their advice.

One of the activists, Lway Aye Nang of the Women's League of Burma, said rape has long been used "as a weapon of war" in Myanmar and thanked Washington for imposing sanctions against her country.

"This is really hitting ... the regime and their associates, who have been defiling the country's natural resources for their own benefit and leaving ordinary citizens in extreme poverty," she said.

Bush's speech had been expected to prominently feature Myanmar. But it contained only a brief — though blunt — mention of the reclusive nation.

One of the world's poorest countries, Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, when the latest junta came to power after brutally crushing a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

""We will continue working until the people of Burma have the freedom they deserve," Bush said, calling for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.

In perhaps his last major address in Asia, Bush said America speaks out for a free press, free assembly and labor rights in China, and against its detentions of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists, not to antagonize its leaders, but because it's the only path the potent U.S. rival can take to reach its full potential.

As balance, Bush offered praise for China's market reforms.

"Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and its own traditions. Yet," he said, "change will arrive."

"With this speech, Bush is trying to address two polar issues: easing the controversy created by those who oppose his visit during the Games and simultaneously maintaining America's strategy with China," said Yan Xuetong, an expert in U.S.-China relations at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University.

"China's foreign policy will have a moderate response to Bush's speech, because they want and need him to attend the opening ceremonies," Yan said. "The most they may say is something about not meddling in China's domestic affairs."

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged the international community "to speak with a strong and united voice" to maintain pressure on China over human rights. But he conceded Beijing's record has improved.

"Remember, it was not all that long ago they were in the middle of the cultural revolution with people getting put up against a wall and basically knocked off," he told Nine Network television before flying to Beijing himself.

Bush also urged North Korea to live up to its promise to dismantle its nuclear weapons, adding: "The United States will continue to insist that the regime in Pyongyang end its harsh rule and respect the dignity and human rights of the North Korean people."

About 25 people around the convention center where Bush spoke welcomed him. But a Muslim group shouted "Bush, get out. God is great" as the presidential motorcade passed. The protesters handed out leaflets saying "George Bush is a war criminal." - AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/112118/Bush-cites-oppression-human-rights-abuses-in-Asia>

Bush chides Beijing over rights

George Bush urges China to improve its human rights records

US President George W Bush has expressed "deep concerns" over China's human rights record in a speech on the eve of the Beijing Olympics.

"The US believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings," he said in the Thai capital Bangkok.

He praised China's economy but said only respect for human rights would let it realise its full potential.

Mr Bush has been criticised by some campaigners for going to the Games.

He was due to fly to Beijing following the speech in Bangkok, a stop on his final trip to Asia before he leaves office in January.

The wide-ranging address, which included criticism of the regime in Burma, was more nuanced than Mr Bush's past speeches on China, the BBC's Jonathan Head reports from Bangkok.

It is unlikely to cause much offence in China, our correspondent says, and many people will see it more as a valedictory speech for Mr Bush's record in Asia rather than an outline of future US policy.

'Firm opposition'

President Bush said he was optimistic about China's future and said change in China would arrive "on its own terms".

Young people who grow up with the freedom to trade goods will ultimately demand the freedom to trade ideas...
George W Bush
US president

But his criticisms of China's human rights record were clear.

"America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists," he said.

When it was controversially awarded the games in 2001 by the International Olympic Committee, Beijing promised to make improvements in human rights, media freedoms and the provision of health and education.

But campaigners, such as Amnesty International, say Chinese activists have been jailed, people made homeless, journalists detained and websites blocked, while there has been increased use of labour camps and prison beatings.

In March, China suppressed violent anti-government protests in Tibet. Beijing said rioters killed at least 19 people, but Tibetan exiles said security forces killed dozens of protesters in the worst unrest in Tibet for 20 years.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, rejected Beijing's claims he was behind the riots and said he expressed good wishes for the success of Games.

On Thursday, at least 1,500 Buddhists were holding a protest in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu against what they called China's violation of religious freedom in Tibet. Correspondents say there have been scuffles with police.

In Beijing, police dragged away three US Christians who tried to demonstrate on Tiananmen Square in support of religious freedom.

Four pro-Tibet activists from Britain and the US were arrested and held briefly in the city on Wednesday after a protest close to the Olympic stadium.

Burma refugees

In his address, Mr Bush said the US recognised that the growth sparked by China's free market reforms was "good for the Chinese people" and the country's' purchasing power was "good for the world".

On foreign policy, he commended China's "critical leadership role" in the negotiations to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, and the "constructive relationship" between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan.

He also called for an end to what he described as tyranny in Thailand's neighbour, Burma.

Friday's Olympic opening ceremony coincides with the 20th anniversary of a democracy uprising in Burma, which was crushed by the military.

First lady Laura Bush flew to the Thai-Burmese border to spend the day at the Mae La refugee camp where about 35,000 refugees live, having fled their homes. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7546376.stm>

Dan Kaminsky made his comments when speaking publicly for the first time about his discovery at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.

He said fixes for the flaw in the net's Domain Name System (DNS) had focused on web browsers but it could be abused by hackers in many other ways.

The DNS acts as the internet's address books and helps computers translate the website names people prefer (such as bbc.co.uk) into the numbers computers use (212.58.224.131).

Mr Kaminsky discovered a way for malicious hackers to hijack DNS and re-direct people to fake pages even if they typed in the correct address for a website.

Via the flaw hi-tech criminals or pranksters could target FTP services, mail servers, spam filters, Telnet and the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) that helps to make web-based transactions more secure.

One by one they have been coming out in public to denounce the organisation's actions as being counterproductive.

But at the same time, a leading British de-radicaliser says the number of young British Muslims attracted to violent extremism is growing - and, he claims, the UK government is partly to blame.

In the living room of his London home, the Libyan former jihadist Nu'man Bin Othman reads out part of the open letter he sent recently to al-Qaeda's no 2 and chief strategist, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri.

He tells him that al-Qaeda's tactics have been a failure and - most damningly - its methods un-Islamic.

The BBC's Crispin Thorold, in Baghdad, assesses whether such an "accommodation" could have been possible.

In March this year the Iraqi security forces launched a major offensive against the Mehdi Army, a Shia militia, in Iraq's second city Basra. From the beginning the British described that operation as "Iraqi planned, led and executed".

But once again questions are being asked about why the British were so slow to put their troops on the ground in the city.

From the earliest hours of the Iraqi military operations in Basra it was clear that things were not going according to plan.

Yet British troops were only deployed from Basra's airport into the city after nearly a week of fighting.

Could that decision have been dictated by a secret deal between the British and the Mehdi Army, as suggested by the Times?

The newspaper has claimed that UK troops initially stayed out of the battle because of a pre-arranged "accommodation" with the Mehdi Army - denied flatly by the Ministry of Defence.

However, closer examination of the British relationship with the militias in Basra shows that such a deal could have been possible.

Military intelligence sources have told the BBC that the British have been talking to Shia militias including the Mehdi Army for several years.

At times the frequency of the talks have declined, like during the Shia uprising in 2004.

Ali al-Salman, a senior commander of the Mehdi Army in Basra told the BBC that he attended three meetings with a "British army officer and a British 'civilian' between 8 February and 10 February 2007".

Some 800 rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have occupied villages in North Cotabato province, displacing about 6,500 people.

There has been controversy in the region over a deal to expand a Muslim autonomous zone there.

The government and MILF rebels had been set to sign a preliminary accord on Tuesday on the deal, which would see the zone expanded in exchange for the end of a decades-long insurgency.

Security concerns may delay pullout of MILF in some areas

Roxas to file motion for intervention on govt-MILF homeland pact

It is also impossible to construct a convincing and rounded picture of Ivins' personality from the conflicting impressions offered by FBI investigators on the one hand, who believe he was a deeply disturbed mass murderer, and on the other by friends and colleagues who portray a gentler, more reflective figure.

There are shades of light and dark within most of us, but rarely are they as extreme as the different facets of Ivins' character.

Here was a man who played the organ in his local church, founded a juggling group to entertain children and wrote amusing jingles to play at leaving parties when colleagues moved on to new jobs.

He was also tormented by paranoid, delusional thoughts, drank heavily and wrote a poem containing the lines: "I'm the other half of Bruce - when he lets me out... I push Bruce aside, then I'm free to run about!"

This all matters because the American authorities have taken the extraordinary step of publishing the evidence they had collected against Bruce Ivins.

They are trying to prove that he was solely responsible for the anthrax attacks in late 2001, which terrified an America already traumatised by the 9/11 bombings.

The American people will play the role of jurors as the Federal authorities attempt to persuade them that this case is closed.

Whatever you think about the evidence, it is worth noting that the federal authorities have some difficult questions to answer in the case.

First, they have just paid $5.8m (£2.9m) to a previous suspect - Stephen Hatfill - who also worked as a government research science in the field of biological warfare, just like Bruce Ivins.

Now, the fact that the investigators were wrong once does not mean they are wrong every time, but the Hatfill affair means the prosecutor's case will be examined with particular care.

And of course there is the question of security at the Fort Detrick base where Ivins worked.

If he really was the unstable, heavy-drinking character now portrayed by the authorities, why did he have security clearance to work in such a secret and sensitive area of defence work?

One official said recently that China had cracked five terrorist groups and arrested 82 suspected terrorists in the first half of this year alone.

But some experts believe there is only a "medium risk" that Xinjiang terrorists would disrupt the Olympic Games.

Others say the whole terrorist threat has been exaggerated as an excuse to allow Beijing to carry out repression in Xinjiang.

Xinjiang, in the far west of China, is home to the Uighur ethnic group, many of whom resent Beijing's rule over the region.

There has been low-level terrorist activity there for a number of years, but this appears to have increased this year ahead of the Olympics.

As early as March, Wang Lequan, Xinjiang's Communist Party chief, suggested terrorists were planning attacks against this summer's Olympic Games.

Earlier this year, China said it had foiled an attack on a passenger plane flying from the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi.

And just last month officials said they had shot dead five members of a group planning a "holy war" in China.

"If I'm in a taxi," he said, "and the driver asks me what my job is, I tell him I'm a writer."

"Public opinion now is very bad. If I tell him I'm an MP, I worry he'll get angry or start accusing me of something."

Indonesia's increasing democracy has meant politicians have had to get used to a new level of media scrutiny - from satirical TV shows, to live radio phone-ins.

But nothing has battered their image in recent months quite like the country's Corruption Eradication Commission, the KPK.

Rumours of corruption have hung over parliament for years, but the KPK has done something unheard of before: it has moved in and investigated them.

In the past few months, it has investigated six MPs, and has just cracked open a corruption scandal which could potentially suck in all 53 former members of the parliament's financial commission, including two cabinet ministers.

That has sent a few shockwaves rattling beneath the green turtle shell-like roof of the parliament building.

"The first reaction was hurt and embarrassment," said MP Eva Kusuma. "It was a very impulsive reaction; people felt the commission had gone beyond what was allowed by law."

Troops clear 2 villages as fighting escalates in NCotabato

Esperon: NCotabato clashes won't affect talks with MILF

MANILA, Philippines - Presidential Peace Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr said Monday that the skirmishes in North Cotabato between security forces and a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will not affect the government's peace negotiations with the MILF.

In a statement, Esperon maintained that the government is "determined to push the peace process to its conclusion until the long-drawn Mindanao conflict is resolved."

"We will continue to pursue peace. The fighting in North Cotabato will not in any way disrupt our focus for a genuine and lasting peace in Mindanao," Esperon said.

"Negotiations will continue," he added. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/112830/Esperon-NCotabato-clashes-wont-affect-talks-with-MILF>

Invisibility cloak 'step closer'

For now, the invisibility cloak remains a thing of science fiction

Scientists in the US say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people invisible.

Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around 3D objects making them "disappear".

The materials do not occur naturally but have been created on a nano scale, measured in billionths of a metre.

The team says the principles could one day be scaled up to make invisibility cloaks large enough to hide people.

Stealth operations

The findings, by scientists led by Xiang Zhang, were published in the journals Nature and Science.

The new system works like water flowing around a rock, the researchers said.

Because light is not absorbed or reflected by the object, a person only sees the light from behind it - rendering the object invisible.

The new material produces has "negative refractive" properties. It has a multi-layered "fishnet" structure which is transparent over a wide range of light wavelengths.

The research, funded by the US government, could one day be used in military stealth operations - with tanks made to disappear from the enemies' sight. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7553061.stm>

Early lessons from S Ossetia conflict

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

Although the fighting over South Ossetia is not over, and fighting for another Georgian enclave, Abkhazia, looks like developing, it is perhaps not too early to learn some tentative lessons from the crisis.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7553390.stm>

Redeployment of govt troops to Mindanao puts other regions at risk - solon

08/12/2008 | 07:03 PM

MANILA, Philippines - The re-deployment of security forces to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for the elections and for the operations in North Cotabato might have created vacuums in other parts of the country that could be taken advantage of by rebel and terrorist groups, a senator warned Tuesday.

Senator Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security, said the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police should ensure that security measures are still in place in other parts of the country despite the re-deployment of their troops to key areas in Mindanao.

“Care must be taken that in this redeployment, no vacuum is created somewhere else that could be taken advantage of by rebel and or terrorist groups,” said Biazon, a former military chief of staff.

The senator noted that when the military pulled out its forces in the Visayas to augment troops in Central Mindanao during President Joseph Estrada’s all-out war against secessionist rebels in 2000, the New People’s Army (NPA) took this as an opportunity to launch several attacks in the provinces of Negros, Iloilo, and Leyte.

“After the withdrawal of forces from these areas for redeployment to Central Mindanao, these were taken advantage of by the NPA in Negros, Iloilo and other areas to the point that those units withdrawn for redeployment to Mindanao were hastily taken back to their former deployment,” he said. - GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/113203/Redeployment-of-govt-troops-to-Mindanao-puts-other-regions-at-risk---solon>

Russia 'ends Georgia operation'

Thousands of people have fled Gori in fear of Russian air attacks

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered an end to military operations against Georgia, the Kremlin says.

He told officials he had taken the decision to end the campaign after restoring security for civilians and peacekeepers in South Ossetia.

However, Russia has been highly critical of Georgia's leadership, and there were no signs of imminent talks.

Before the announcement, there were fresh reports of Russian warplanes bombing the Georgian town of Gori.

Witnesses told the BBC that several people were killed when a bomb hit a hospital in the town, which is 10 miles (15km) from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.

See map of the region

A reporter for Reuters news agency said several bombs exploded in front of his vehicle, while a Reuters photographer spoke of seeing dead and injured people lying in the streets.

Officials in the Netherlands, meanwhile, confirmed that a Dutch TV cameraman was among those killed in Gori and a journalist was wounded.

Should centres of resistance or other aggressive attempts arise, you must take the decision to destroy them

Dmitry Medvedev
Russian president

Profile: Dmitry Medvedev

Day-by-day: Georgia-Russia crisis

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse, near Gori, reported seeing sporadic artillery fire around the town right up until shortly before the Russian announcement.

Our correspondent said there was no sign of Russian troops south of Gori, but said there were a number of Georgian military vehicles abandoned or burnt on the road outside the town.

In Georgia's other breakaway region, Abkhazia, separatist rebels continued an offensive against Georgian troops in the Kodori Gorge region - the only area of Abkhazia still under Georgian military control. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7555858.stm>

Israel 'proposes West Bank deal'

Israel has built heavily on occupied land in the West Bank and Jerusalem

Israel has offered a peace deal to the Palestinians which would annex 7.3% of the West Bank and keep the largest settlements, Israeli reports say.

In return the Palestinians would be given land equivalent to 5.4% of the West Bank in the Negev desert, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Palestinian officials confirmed that such a plan had been put forward, but called it totally unacceptable.

The two sides have been in peace talks sponsored by the US since November.

Israel wants the new border between it and the West Bank to be similar to the route of the barrier it is currently building in and around the territory, Haaretz reports.

Haaretz says the proposed deal also covers refugees and security arrangements, but not the contentious issue of East Jerusalem and the ring of settlements around it.

Wide gap

A spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said the proposal is not new, but had been presented by the Israel earlier in the year.

Ahmed Qurei (c) warned Palestinians could abandon a two-state solution

"The only subject that was discussed seriously was the borders but we never reached an agreement. The gap is still as wide as ever," Mr Abu Rudeineh told the BBC.

About half a million Israelis live among 2.5 million Palestinians in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land that was occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.

On Monday, top Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei said Israel's strategy in negotiations could force the Palestinians to abandon their goal of a two-state deal and instead seek a binational solution, that is a single state for Israelis and Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

The US has set a deadline of before US President George W Bush leaves office next January for a peace deal to hammered out.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to resign in the coming weeks as he fights multiple corruption allegations against him.

The US got behind the two-state formula in 2002, but subsequently it also supported Israel's goal of retaining land beyond the 1967 borders where Israel has settled large populations of its citizens. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7555990.stm>

Cuba 'jailing fewer dissidents'

By Michael Voss
BBC News, Havana

Raul Castro officially became president in February 2008

The number of political prisoners in Cuba has fallen in the past six months, according to a new report by the island's main human rights group.

This continues the trend which began after Raul Castro took over the leadership of the communist island from his brother, Fidel, two years ago.

But the report also says that the authorities are continuing to take a tough line against dissidents.

It says that any change in the human rights situation remains "unlikely".

There are an estimated 219 political prisoners currently held in Cuban jails, 15 fewer than in January this year.

But according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCHRNR) this does not represent a fundamental change in the treatment of dissidents under Raul Castro.

Instead, the latest half yearly report by this illegal but tolerated organisation points to a change in tactics, with a marked increase in what it calls arbitrary systematic detentions.

Instead of high profile arrests and imprisonment, opponents are picked up by police, often prior to planned meetings or rallies.

They are then released without charge, usually within 24 hours. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7555814.stm>

Honduras air boss 'in pilot scam'

The civil aviation director in Honduras has disappeared after authorities alleged he had issued pilot certificates without any tests.

Guillermo Seamann allegedly issued a total of 38 certificates to pilots and mechanics from Venezuela and one to a worker from Peru.

Authorities said the applicants never came to Honduras.

An arrest warrant was issued for Mr Seamann after he failed to show up at his office on Tuesday. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7557681.stm>

UN probes Indian abuses in Congo

The UN found evidence during an internal investigation

The UN has found that its peacekeeping troops from India may have engaged in abuse and exploitation while serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was deeply troubled by the findings.

Mr Ban said the Indian government had assured the UN the allegations would be thoroughly investigated and if proven action would be taken.

One UN official said there may have been abuse of young girls and boys by at least 100 Indian peacekeepers. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7557670.stm>

Fresh Chacha moves fuel suspicion Arroyo wants to stay in power

08/13/2008 | 07:20 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Despite Malacañang's denials, its moves to amend the 1987 Constitution raise fresh suspicion that President Arroyo wants to stay in power beyond 2010, a militant group has said.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said Arroyo is playing a "very dangerous game" by escalating the armed conflict in Mindanao, and then pushing for federalism and charter change.

"Critics of the administration have every reason to be wary of Charter change especially since this has always been tied to maneuvers to keep Mrs. Arroyo in power beyond 2010. There is nothing in the track record of this government which says it can be trusted with amending the Constitution," Reyes said in a statement on the Bayan website.

Bayan said the move to change the Charter will not stop at federalism; it could proceed to tinkering with other provisions such as term extension of incumbent leaders.

It also cautioned the Arroyo administration of making federalism a cure-all solution to the armed conflict in Mindanao.

"It is not just a simple way forward as Malacanang would like us to believe. We don't even know how serious they are in their pitch for federalism. It could all be an elaborate ruse to push a more sinister agenda," Reyes said.

Bayan urged the Senate to take a critical stand towards new moves to change the Constitution.

"The Senate should not allow Malacanang to railroad cha-cha. The road to peace can still be achieved if the Arroyo government negotiates in good faith and orders a cessation of military operations," Reyes said. - GMANEws.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/113327/Fresh-Chacha-moves-fuel-suspicion-Arroyo-wants-to-stay-in-power>

Peace adviser slams door on domain pact renegotiation

08/13/2008 | 05:54 PM

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr ruled out a renegotiation of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain that the government peace panel reached with Moro separatists, saying such a move would push back the peace process to square one.

“Esperon is against the suggestion of some politicians calling for a re-negotiation as this would only mean prolonging the peace process and that would bring back the country to where it first started many years ago," said a news release posted on the official government web site on Wednesday.

Three members of the House of Representatives from Mindanao earlier filed a resolution to bring the controversial MOA back to the negotiating table, saying the people from places being covered by the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity to be created in the agreement have to be consulted first. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/113449/Peace-adviser-slams-door-on-domain-pact-renegotiation>

New inquiry into Japan abductees

Shigeru (R) and Sakie Yokota lost their daughter Megumi in 1977

Japan and North Korea have agreed to reopen an inquiry into Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, Japanese reports say.

Agreement came when envoys of the two states, which have no diplomatic ties, met in China as part of broader talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.

In 2002, North Korea admitted that it had kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens to help train its spies in Japanese ways.

It said five had been returned to their families and the other eight had died.

But Japan insists that North Korea abducted more people than it acknowledges, and wants more proof of the eight deaths. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7557653.stm>

Iraq contractors 'cost US $85bn'

The private contractor business employs thousands

The US government spent $85bn (£45bn) between 2003 and 2007 on contractors for services in support of the Iraq war and reconstruction, a report says.

And by the end of 2008, spending is likely to top $100bn, a review by the Congressional Budget Office found.

Supporters say their use is cost-effective but there have also been documented cases of overcharging.

Concern over security contractors also grew following the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in September 2007.

The US is relying on contractors in Iraq at a greater rate than in any other major conflict, the CBO said.

According to CBO estimates, the US currently employs 190,000 contractors in Iraq and neighbouring countries, a ratio of one contractor per member of the US armed forces.

About 20% are American, 40% are citizens from the country where they are employed; and the rest are foreign workers.

They provide services ranging from security, logistics support, construction, petroleum products and food. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7557995.stm>

MILF hits govt DDR tack as ‘bad terminology’

09/08/2008 | 10:24 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) dismissed Monday the government's policy of demilitarization, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) as a "bad terminology" that no revolutionary organization "worthy of its salt" would accept.

An article on the MILF website said it would have been better had government used the term "disposition of forces and weapons."

"I just wanted to clarify loose ends that might be misunderstood that the MILF agreed to discuss DDR and not the MOA-AD when talks resumes," said MILF vice chairman on political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar.

The MILF said DDR is a concept pursued by the United Nations and applied in several post conflict situations in South America, Asia, and Africa.

Subjects of the programs were mainly ex-combatants and their families, who were impoverished and traumatized by these long conflicts.

The MILF noted that in 2006, the Swedish ambassador to the Philippines, aided by several experts from South America, Congo, and Asia conducted a three-day forum on DDR at Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Shariff Kabunsuan.

Participants were all senior members of the MILF. At the end of the three-day sessions, various recommendations were made including the adoption of terms instead of DDR.

In a five-point policy statement called the "MILF Declaration Manifest" that was officially released on Friday, MILF described President Arroyo's DDR as "the new government road map to peace" that many countries in the world use in resolving armed conflict with the underground.

Jaafar said the MILF acknowledged that the DDR "forms part of the comprehensive peace settlement." But, he said, it should be the last item, and not in the forefront, of the talks.

"When the DDR is taken up ahead of the comprehensive peace settlement, it is interpreted to be a military approach. Not in the way of a political approach that President Arroyo promised in 2001 when she replaced the all-out war policy of President Joseph Estrada to the all-out peace policy," Jaafar said. - GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/118818/MILF-hits-govt-DDR-tack-as-bad-terminology>

Reds deny mutilating govt militiaman in Bicol

09/08/2008 | 11:43 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The New People's Army (NPA) belied Monday reports that its forces mutilated a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) in Bicol.

NPA Nerissa San Juan Command spokeswoman Theresa Magtanggol branded as a lie reports that Cafgu Ryan Samonte was castrated before he was executed.

"Ang karumaldumal na paglapastangan sa sinumang indibidwal ay hindi gawain ng Bagong Hukbong Bayan (Such a dastardly act is not the way of the NPA)," she said in a statement posted on the Communist Party of the Philippines website Monday.

She said the NPA adheres to human rights and the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and Geneva Convention.

This was evident in its humane treatment of Army 1Lt Ronaldo Fedelino and Pfc. Ronel Nemenio, she said.

But Magtanggol confirmed Samonte was executed on August 10 in San Isidro village in San Andres town in Catanduanes province.

"Siya ay dating kasama na nagpagamit sa reaksyunaryong hukbo. Naging Cafgu siya at nanghikayat sa mga dating kasama na magsisuko at sumapi na sa reaksyunaryong hukbo. Sinalaula niya ang mga kababaryo niya sa Brgy. San Isidro, San Andres at pinaratangan na mga NPA o di kaya'y mga simpatisador ng NPA," she said.

(He was a former colleague who allowed himself to be used by the reactionary military. He became a Cafgu and betrayed his colleagues and sympathizers.)

She added Samonte also helped locate hiding places of NPAs and served as an intelligence operative of the military. - GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/118832/Reds-deny-mutilating-govt-militiaman-in-Bicol>

Chavit slams critics, insists he is qualified for security post

SOPHIA DEDACE, GMANews.TV

09/08/2008 | 11:02 AM

MANILA, Philippines – Newly-appointed deputy national security adviser Luis “Chavit" Singson on Monday lashed back at his critics who said he is “inexperienced" and “underqualified" for the post.

In an interview over radio dzBB, Singson dismissed criticisms and said that he accepted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s offer at the National Security Council because he is aware that he has “a lot to contribute."

"Last week, noong tumawag si Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, napag-isip isipan ko na tatanggapin ko ito dahil makakatulong ako," Singson said.

Singson, former governor of Ilocos Sur province, also said that his detractors might just be "envious" of him.

"Sa mga naiinggit, huwag a silang mainggit dahil trabaho ito. Tinanggap ko ito para… sa ating bansa," Singson said.

Singson also outlined his credentials to prove he is qualified to handle the demands of post, which includes helping in the peace negotiations in Mindanao.

"Malawak kasi ang experience natin diyan sa bagay na yan dahil naging chairman (ako) nang matagal ng Peace and Order Council ng Region 1. Naging chairman din (ako) ng League of Provinces of the Philippines. Kaya kilala ko ang past and present governors and congressmen at mga leader sa Mindanao. Naging chief of police din ako noong araw," Singson said.

"Sa mga kumukuwestiyon, well-qualified ako diyan," he added.

Singson also said that when he formally assumes his post, he will immediately consult with NSC director general Norberto Gonzales.

"Well, unang-una makikipagugnayan muna ako kay Secretary Gonzales para malaman ang priorities at mga ibang dapat gawin," he said.

Singson said he will prioritize resolving the conflict in Mindanao by helping in the dialogues with Muslim communities.

He also had an answer to former President Joseph Estrada's criticism that his post was a political payback from the Arroyo administration.

"Akala ni Erap sine pa (ito). Dapat magising na si Erap. Baka natatakot siya na hahabulin ko ang mga bilyon niya. Hindi ko na hahabulin iyon. Dapat ipamahagi na lang niya sa mga mahihirap yung bilyones na napunta sa kaniya," Singson said.

Malacañang had earlier invoked presidential prerogative in seeking to quell the controversy brought by the appointment of Singson.

"Ang pagpili ng opisyal ng pamahalaan is a prerogative of the president. Pangulo lang ang nakakapili sa inaakala niyang makakatulong sa administrasyon at pagmamalakad (The choice of an official is a prerogative of the president. She is the only one who can select those she thinks can help in running the country)," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita had said in a radio interview.

Singson was the latest defeated 2007 senatorial candidate from the administration bloc to be named to a key government post.

Other defeated administration senatorial bets included former Sen. Vicente Sotto III (Dangerous Drugs Board), Prospero Pichay Jr (Local Water Utilities Administration), Ralph Recto (National Economic and Development Authority), and Michael Defensor (task force on NAIA 3).

Defensor, however, has resigned from the task force. - GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/118825/Chavit-slams-critics-insists-he-is-qualified-for-security-post>

Georgia: The ripple effect

By Jonathan Marcus
BBC Diplomatic correspondent

Russia's military intervention in Georgia has inevitably had a dramatic impact on the region.

The impact of Georgia's crisis will be played out far beyond Tbilisi

But the implications of its decision to unilaterally re-draw Georgia's boundaries by recognising the independence of the two separatist enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia go way beyond the Caucasus - the ripples spreading into Turkey, the wider Middle East and beyond, reaching as far as the Caribbean.

The crisis has given an added boost to Turkey's efforts to become a significant diplomatic player in the region.

Turkey is a key member of Nato, though it also has important trading ties with Russia.

As a neighbour of Georgia it does not want to be precipitated into an unwanted confrontation with Moscow.

The Turkish government's efforts to conclude a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Pact - something that has already taken the Turkish president on an unprecedented visit to his country's historical enemy, Armenia - are an effort to improve the climate in an often tense region. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7609016.stm>

Kim rumours provide a wake-up call

By Becky Branford
BBC News

Kim's absence sparked intense speculation over his wellbeing

The absence of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, from celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the country's founding triggered a frenzy of speculation.

Several analysts suggested he had died, others that he was incapacitated.

The conclusion reached by South Korea's intelligence service on Wednesday was that he had suffered a stroke, but was still capable of running the country.

Some say all this speculation about Mr Kim's health was an overreaction.

But many others have pointed out that the rumours raise a very important point - one day Mr Kim will die or become unable to govern; does the world have a plan for what to do then?

Stroke

There have been repeated suspicions that Mr Kim suffers a serious illness - bolstered by the impression that he has seemed weak and overweight in his last few appearances in public.

Given the stakes involved, you would think that the US, South Korea and other regional partners had some type of agreed upon plan. Nope

Victor Cha
Former North Korea adviser to President Bush

Along with a stroke, South Korean intelligence sources suggest he also suffers from diabetes and heart disease.

North Korea has coped with the death of a leader once before - in 1994, when Great Leader Kim Il-sung died.

But analysts say that was different. When Kim Jong-il took over from his father, he had long been groomed as a successor.

This time, "the children are young and with no obvious experience in terms of managing anything", Hazel Smith, North Korea specialist at Warwick University, told the BBC's Today programme. None has been officially recognised as a successor.

Power-sharing

Amid the vacuum, there have been reports of an embryonic power struggle within the North Korean elite.

It is dominated by three main groups: the Kim family, the Korean Workers' Party and the armed forces.

Lee Jung-min, professor of international relations at Seoul's prestigious Yonsei University, says any new figurehead would probably be nominated by the army but "would immediately have to share power with the family and party".

"Such an unstable three-legged stool," he said, "won't last long".

There have been big changes in North Korea in the 14 years since Kim Il-sung passed away.

A devastating famine and economic collapse have - to an extent - loosened the government's suffocating hold on its people, particularly in cities and in border regions. Private economic activity has blossomed as state provision has failed. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7608398.stm>

US 'must target Pakistan havens'

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called for a new strategy in Afghanistan to deny militants bases across the border in Pakistan.

Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Admiral Mike Mullen called for a military strategy that covered both sides of the border.

The US must work closely with Pakistan to "eliminate [the enemy's] safe havens", he told Congress.

But Pakistan insists it will not allow foreign forces onto its territory.

"There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border," Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said.

9/11: THE NEW FRONTIER

Mapping the militant nexus

New patterns of militancy

Voices from unstable borders

More coverage throughout the day on BBC World News and BBC World Service

BBC World Service coverage

Pakistan's top military commanders are meeting in Rawalpindi, and high on the agenda is thought to be a ground assault by coalition forces in South Waziristan on 4 September, which Pakistan says killed more than a dozen civilians.

In an interview with the BBC, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said such attacks were unproductive and alienated the local population. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7609073.stm>

Pakistan's counter-insurgency quandary

By Barbara Plett
BBC News, Mardan, North West Frontier Province

The residents of Sheikh Yasin camp are not celebrating the inauguration of Pakistan's new
president.

The army's killing people because America gives it money to fight terrorists, so it has to show it's doing something

Taher, a farmer now resident in Sheikh Yasin camp

They jostle each other as they wait for hand-outs of bread and queuing for soup, ladled out from huge vats under a canvas tarpaulin crusty with flies.

More than 2,000 people have fled to the camp to escape an army bombing campaign against the local Taleban in the Bajaur tribal area near the Afghan border. More civilians were killed than militants, they say.

For many Pakistanis, this is what the "war on terror" has brought: displacement and death. There is resentment and anger. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7609886.stm>

West 'makes terror fight harder'

By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Jakarta

Indonesia has been praised for its approach to terrorism

Indonesia's head of counter-terrorism says Western governments have made it harder for moderate Muslims to tackle terror in their own countries.

Ansyaad Mbai told the BBC that Indonesia's own fight against terrorism relied on a much softer approach.

He suggested other countries should also apply similar tactics alongside military force.

Indonesia has had striking success in tackling terrorism on its soil in the past few years.

Mr Mbai said each country faced a unique situation in its fight against terrorism, and that there was no one-size-fits-all.

But he said that there needed to be a balance between force and negotiation, and that war - as pursued by America in Iraq and Afghanistan - was not an effective strategy against terrorism.

"Muslims see this strategy as destructively attacking Muslims, as attacking Islam... This is not the solution," he said.

"The use of war against the militants in the Middle East doesn't stop the terrorists and radicals." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7610192.stm>

No victory in Iraq says Petraeus

Gen David Petraeus says the US faces a long struggle in Iraq

The outgoing commander of US troops in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has said that he will never declare victory there.

In a BBC interview, Gen Petraeus said that recent security gains were "not irreversible" and that the US still faced a "long struggle".

When asked if US troops could withdraw from Iraqi cities by the middle of next year, he said that would be "doable".

In his next job leading the US Central Command, Gen Petraeus will also oversee operations in Afghanistan.

This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade... it's not war with a simple slogan

Gen David Petraeus

He said "the trends in Afghanistan have not gone in the right direction... and that had to be addressed".

Afghanistan remained a "hugely important endeavour", he said.

Earlier this week, President George W Bush announced a cut of 8,000 US troops in Iraq by February - with some 4,500 being sent to Afghanistan. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7610405.stm>

Sacked CA justice says politics behind his dismissal

09/11/2008 | 08:06 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Dismissed Court of Appeals Associate Justice Vicente Roxas on Thursday broke his silence and said that an “unseen hand” played a role in penalizing the magistrates involved in the disposition of the ownership case of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

“It’s partly political in nature in the sense that from the very beginning, an unseen hand has been manipulating these things,” Roxas said in a television interview, referring to the sanctions handed down by the Supreme Court to the justices involved in the case.

Roxas particularly questioned why the SC handed him the most severe penalty of dismissal while it was Associate Justice Jose Sabio Sr who had violated many laws with regards to the handling of the case.

Roxas, who penned the controversial July 23 decision favoring Meralco, noted Sabio’s admission during the hearings conducted by the SC’s investigating panel that he had allowed his elder brother, Camilo Sabio, to influence him in helping the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) gain control over the Lopez-owned power utility firm.

“I feel na talagang, mukang inisahan ako. Ano ba ang ginawa kong labag sa batas? Sino ba ang nakikiusap sa labas, diba si Sabio? Sino ba ang in-offer-an, sino ang tumanggap ng suhol?” Roxas said.

(“I really feel that I’ve been had. What did I do that was against the law? Who admitted that he had talked with somebody outside of the CA? Who was the one who claimed to have been offered a bribe?”)

Sabio, who was only meted with a two-month suspension, had earlier admitted that an alleged emissary of Meralco had offered him P10 million to inhibit from the case. His disclosure prompted the Supreme Court to form a three-man panel of retired justices that would investigate the alleged bribe offer and other irregularities surrounding the Meralco-GSIS case.

He also admitted that he had talked with his brother, Camilo, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), regarding the case.

In Thursday’s television interview, Roxas accused the Sabio brothers of having strong connections inside and outside the Court.

“The Sabio brothers, baka protektado sila sa loob ng powers that be. Di ko maintindihan kung paano nakakalusot ang mga tao na ito (The Sabio brothers seem to enjoy protection from the powers that be. I don’t understand why these things happen),” he said.

Despite his claims, Roxas said he is not interested in filing a motion for reconsideration, at least under the Arroyo administration.

He also said that the present composition of the SC is not likely to reverse its decision since even before the panel – chaired by retired SC Justice Carolina Grino-Aquino with members Flerida Ruth Romeo and Romeo Callejo – could submit its report, the high court had already penalized him for another case.

Roxas was referring to the administrative case filed by a litigant who claimed that the justice did not act on his motion for reconsideration immediately.

While the panel hearing was ongoing, the SC handed out its resolution on that complaint, fining Roxas with P15,000 with a stern warning that a repetition of another offense will be dealt with a more severe penalty.

The Court’s ruling in that complaint, Roxas said, was the writing on the wall.

“I’m questioning not only timing, parang iniimpluwensyahan ang desisyon ng panel. Parang advance warning na ang susunod sa iyo ay sisibakin ka na (Seems like the ruling was to influence the panel’s decision and at the same time warn me that the next penalty on me would be dismissal),” he said. - GMANews.TV

Articles

Media

Links

» Salonga dares sacked CA justice to name personalities in bribe try

» SC vows to insulate decision-making system

» Report: CA justices to revise rules, craft 'reform' covenant

» (Update) CA orders release of pastor charged with murder

<http://www.gmanews.tv/story/119689/Sacked-CA-justice-says-politics-behind-his-dismissal>

Saudi judge condemns 'immoral TV'

The most senior judge in Saudi Arabia has said it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV channels which broadcast immoral programmes.

Sheikh Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan said some "evil" entertainment programmes aired by the channels promoted debauchery.

Dozens of satellite television channels broadcast across the Middle East, where they are watched by millions of Arabs every day.

The judge made the comments on a state radio programme.

He was speaking in response to a listener who asked his opinion on the airing of programmes featuring scantily-dressed women during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"There is no doubt that these programmes are a great evil, and the owners of these channels are as guilty as those who watch them," said the sheikh.

"It is legitimate to kill those who call for corruption if their evil can not be stopped by other penalties."
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7613575.stm>

Court delays Puttar film release

By Karishma Vaswani
BBC News, Mumbai

The film features a 10-year-old boy who moves to England

A court in India has postponed the release of a film entitled Hari Puttar, after complaints from the makers of the blockbuster Harry Potter films.

Hollywood company Warner Bros has filed a lawsuit against all parties involved in the production and distribution of the Hari Puttar film.

It has been quoted as saying the the title of the Indian movie is confusing.

Mirchi Movies, the makers of the Bollywood children's film, have denied the accusations.

It told the BBC that India's Hari Puttar had nothing to do with the Harry Potter wizard movies, to which Warner Bros owns the rights.

Mirchi says that Hari is a popular Indian name, and Puttar means 'son' in Hindi and Punjabi.

The Indian film tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who moves to England with his family and becomes involved in a plan to save the world.

The Indian production house says the name of their film was registered in 2005.

But the legal proceedings mean that scheduled release of Hari Puttar has been postponed.

It was meant to hit cinema halls on Friday, but has now been pushed back to the end of this month.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7612809.stm>

Thai faction rejects PM nominee

Mr Somchai is a softly spoken former judge - but also related to Mr Thaksin

Thailand's governing People's Power Party has named Somchai Wongsawat as its candidate for prime minister to succeed Samak Sundaravej.

The softly spoken former judge is a brother-in-law of the controversial former PM, Thaksin Shinawatra.

But within hours of the announcement a powerful faction within the ruling party said it would not support him.

Correspondents say the PPP has two days to reach consensus or risk renewed political instability.

A state of emergency was lifted in Bangkok on Sunday, 12 days after it was imposed amid violent clashes between government supporters and opponents, which left one person dead.

But anti-government protesters have vowed to continue their nearly three-week-old occupation of the main government complex until the PPP is forced out of power altogether.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7615950.stm>

Ramos Horta slams UN 'hypocrisy'

By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Jakarta

Mr Ramos Horta has been criticised for being soft on perpetrators of violence

East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta has accused members of the UN Security Council of "extraordinary hypocrisy".

He said small, post-conflict countries like his could not pursue justice blindly, as some UN states insist.

Dr Ramos Horta and Indonesian leaders say their joint Truth and Friendship Commission went far enough.

But some East Timorese and others say it has failed to draw a line under the bloodshed that accompanied Indonesia's withdrawal from East Timor in 1999.

Dr Ramos Horta is a president who has been criticised, both within his country and outside it, for not bringing the orchestrators of East Timor's bloody past to trial.

They have this extraordinary hypocrisy of lecturing us about justice

Jose Ramos Horta

He told me he had stopped calling for an international tribunal as soon as Indonesia withdrew from the country nine years ago - due to loyalty to Indonesia as it moved towards democracy, but also out of a pragmatic need for good relations with Timor's giant neighbour.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7615925.stm>

Political views 'all in the mind'

By Matt McGrath
Science reporter, BBC World Service

Voters' mind are made up long before they arrive at the ballot box

Scientists studying voters in the US say our political views may be an integral part of our physical makeup.

Their research, published in the journal Science, indicates that people who are sensitive to fear or threat are likely to support a right wing agenda.

Those who perceived less danger in a series of images and sounds were more inclined to support liberal policies.

The authors believe their findings may help to explain why voters' minds are so hard to change.

In the study, conducted in Nebraska, 46 volunteers were first asked about their political views on issues ranging from foreign aid and the Iraq war to capital punishment and patriotism.

Those with strong opinions were invited to take part in the second part of the experiment, which involved recording their physiological responses to a series of images and sounds.

The images included pictures of a frightened man with a large spider on his face and an open wound with maggots in it. The subjects were also startled with loud noises on occasion. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7623256.stm>

Turning to the Taleban in Pakistan

US raids on Taleban and al-Qaeda targets in Pakistani territory have caused outrage in Pakistan. And that has added to the loathing that some people there have long felt for the way that the US conducts itself on the world stage, as Owen Bennett-Jones discovers.

Many Pakistanis resent what they see as heavy-handed US tactics

"I would rather live in the dark ages under the Taleban than be subservient to any foreign power."

The unexpected comment comes from an urbane, sophisticated and, I had always thought, Westernised Pashtun lawyer.

He wears none of the badges of Islamic piety - a beard, for example - and he normally sports a navy blazer not the local shalwar kameez.

He is a former minister with the Pakistan People's Party, the most liberal in Pakistan. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7623097.stm>

Street clashes erupt in Germany

Left-wing protesters set fire to barricades in clashes with police

Thousands of left-wing demonstrators gathered to protest against an extreme right-wing rally have clashed with police in the Germany city of Cologne.

Police said about 3,000 protesters threw stones at officers, while some tried to steal their weapons.

Violence erupted after the protesters tried to halt an "anti-Islamification" rally, which police eventually banned.

The extreme-right Pro-Koeln group had sought to protest against plans to build one of Europe's biggest mosques.

The police said the decision to ban the rally was a matter of public safety.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7627047.stm>

Terror pledge after Pakistan bomb

Pakistan's president has pledged to fight the "cancer" of terrorism after a suicide bomb killed at least 54 people in the capital, Islamabad.

In a televised speech, Asif Ali Zardari appealed to "all democratic forces" to help to save Pakistan.

The bomb, at the Marriott Hotel, left a six metre (20ft) crater. It is believed to have been detonated in a lorry.

The Czech ambassador was among those killed. The death toll is expected to rise as the wrecked hotel is searched.

Most of the dead were Pakistanis. One Vietnamese, a German and an American are also known to have died.

At least 270 people, including at least a dozen foreigners, were injured in the blast.

Four Britons and an unknown number of Saudi, German, Moroccan, Afghan and US citizens, were among those hurt.

The BBC's Barbara Plett, at the scene of the blast, says emergency services have not been able to reach the upper floors of the hotel, where more people are feared trapped. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7627626.stm>

US air raid kills Iraq civilians

The air strike was called "after multiple warnings", the US says

The US military says seven people, including three women civilians, have been killed in an air strike in Iraq.

The US said it was targeting insurgents in the village of al-Dawr, near Tikrit north of Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003.

Witnesses are quoted as saying the attack happened after US troops had surrounded a compound in the village.

The village is home of a former leader of the Baath party, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who is still a fugitive.

A military statement said those killed included four suspected insurgents and three women. A child was pulled from the rubble of the building and was treated at a nearby US base.

It said the target was a man believed to be the leader of a bombing network in the area north of Baghdad.

Reports quote Iraqi officials and neighbours saying that the family whose members were killed in the air strike had no connection to the insurgency.

The US said its forces surrounded the compound and called for its occupants to surrender after the main suspect, who was armed, had shown "hostile intent" at a doorway and been shot dead by troops.

However, nobody emerged from the building for about one hour "despite multiple warnings" the statement said, and the troops called in the air strike.

"Sadly, this incident again shows that the terrorists repeatedly risk the lives of innocent women and children to further their evil work," said US military spokesman Colonel Jerry O'Hara. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7625167.stm>

Russia warns of new Iron Curtain

Mr Medvedev said he did not want disputes with the West

President Dmitri Medvedev has accused the West of trying to push Russia behind a new "Iron Curtain".

"This is not our path. For us there is no sense going back to the past," the Russian leader said in Moscow.

He also blamed Nato for provoking last month's fighting between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.

His comments come a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Russia was becoming increasingly aggressive abroad.

In a strongly-worded speech, Ms Rice said Moscow was on a "one-way path to isolation and irrelevance".

Diplomatic relations between the US and its European allies, on one side, and Russia on the other, have been strained by the Georgian conflict.

Lambasting Nato

"We are in effect being pushed down a path that is founded not on fully-fledged, civilised partnership with other countries, but on autonomous development, behind thick walls, behind an Iron Curtain," President Medvedev said.

Russian troops repelled Georgian forces from the breakaway regions

He said that Moscow would not allow this to happen, adding that he did not want disputes with the West.

Mr Medvedev also said that Nato's role in the Georgian conflict proved that the military bloc was unable to provide security in Europe.

"What has Nato done, what has it guaranteed? It only provoked the conflict. That's all," he said.

The fighting began on 7 August when Georgia tried to retake its breakaway region of South Ossetia by force after a series of lower-level clashes.

Russia launched a counter-attack and the Georgian troops were ejected from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia - another Georgia's rebel region - several days later.

The Kremlin later recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. So far, Nicaragua is the only other country to have done so. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7625211.stm>

US to step up action in Pakistan

Tensions show no sign of abating in the Afghan-Pakistan border area

The US has vowed to work with Pakistan to "redouble efforts" to fight extremism after a devastating bomb attack on the Islamabad Marriott hotel.

Two US state department employees were among more than 50 people killed in Saturday's blast.

The call comes amid heightened tensions between the two allies over what the US regards as Islamabad's insufficient efforts to tackle Islamist militants.

Pakistan has been angered by US cross border strikes from Afghanistan.

Pakistan's army has said it will defend the country's sovereignty.

It reserves the right to retaliate to border violations, which it says fuels extremist violence. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7630402.stm>

Jury retrace Menezes' last steps

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot on 22 July 2005

Jurors are due to retrace the final journey of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes who was shot dead by police marksmen three years ago.

They will visit key locations including Stockwell Tube station and his flat in Tulse Hill, south London on the second day of the inquest into his death.

The 27-year-old was killed at the station after boarding a train.

Firearms officers mistakenly identified him to be a bomber the day after the failed 21 July 2005 attacks.

Officials will lead the jury, which consists of six women and five men, away from the Oval cricket ground inquest room to the various locations.

They will travel less than a mile to the station - where Mr de Menezes boarded a Northern Line train waiting at platform two. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7630669.stm>

World leaders gather at UN

Laura Trevelyan
BBC News, United Nations

The general debate is the UN General Assembly's 63rd session

More than 100 heads of state and government are gathering at the United Nations in New York ahead of the General Assembly's General Debate, which gets under way on Tuesday.

They are gathering against a backdrop of global financial turbulence and high tension between Russia and the West in the wake of the Georgian crisis.

The talk in the corridors is of the new Cold War, and the political animosity between Russia and the US can be felt.

A test of Russia's relations with the West post Georgia will come when foreign ministers from six major powers meet on the sidelines of the General Debate to discuss Iran.

Russia has previously supported UN Security Council sanctions against Iran for its failure to stop enriching uranium, not wanting to see its near neighbour with a nuclear bomb, but now Russia rejects US calls for additional sanctions against Iran.

The White House has already signalled that President George W Bush will use his speech here on Tuesday to urge Russia to honour its commitments to fully withdraw its troops from Georgia.

Sudanese dispute

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wants to focus this week on getting world leaders to agree on how to meet the Millennium Development Goals, the ambitious set of targets aimed at halving world poverty by 2015.

The issue of Sudan's efforts to give President Bashir a get-out-of-jail-free card will permeate both the general debate and the ministerial consultations

Richard Dicker
Human Rights Watch

However, with market mayhem and rising food prices, persuading politicians to focus on the plight of the world's poorest rather than their own domestic constituencies could be a tough sell.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are finding it hardest to meet the MDGs and a special meeting on Africa's development needs will be held on Monday.

An underlying theme of this week will be Sudan's attempts to stave off a possible prosecution of President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, asked the judges for an arrest warrant for Sudan's president in July and the judges have not yet come back with a response.

The African Union wants the UN Security Council to use its power under article 16 of the Rome Treaty to suspend the investigation of President Bashir for a year, arguing that it is undermining the search for peace in Darfur. Leaders from Africa and the Middle East are expected to use their speeches here to underline that call.

Behind the scenes South Africa and Libya are considering whether to put forward a draft Security Council resolution calling for an Article 16 deferral.

Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch in New York says:

"The issue of Sudan's efforts to give President Bashir a get-out-of-jail-free card will permeate both the general debate and the ministerial consultations."

Deferring a prosecution of Sudan's president in the hope that this will bring about peace in Darfur is, says Mr Dicker, a "fool's bargain".

Already in the corridors here UN staffers have put up temporary screens known as the booths, where world leaders meet and negotiate privately. From the state of the peace deal in Zimbabwe, to the fall-out from Georgia and the global financial crisis, there is much to ponder. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7629231.stm>

Re-engage with Asia, US is urged

By Vaudine England
BBC News

The "war on terror" has not gone down well among Asia's many Muslims

A report by the Asia Foundation says the current US administration has been overly focused on the Middle East and the next incumbents should redirect attention toward Asia.

The United States needs to pay fresh attention to changing security, trade and personal relationships in Asia, the Asia Foundation says.

Concentrating on the Middle East, the report's authors suggest, carries dangers both for the US and for the Asian region, from Afghanistan to Japan.

Some of the experts point to a resurgent China that they say is gaining influence at the expense of the US; they add that without a deliberate dedication of new enthusiasm for Asia, the US risks being left behind.

The US massively underpins regional development, but when you look at the trade statistics, who is the biggest partner? It's China

Nick Thomas, Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong

"While the United States has been preoccupied with the situation in the Middle East, the Asian balance has been shifting quietly, if inexorably, in the direction of others.

"China, Japan, India and Russia are casting a longer shadow. Size matters, and they have it," the foundation says.

It also argues that the "war on terror" and its focus on Islam have been damaging, particularly in a region that is home to more Muslims than the Middle East.

"It encouraged excessive emphasis on military force. It conflated a host of differing political forces whose interests often diverged. It persuaded some that the enemy was Islam, rather than a few misguided groups within Islam's ranks," it adds. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7629791.stm>

Iraq deal over province elections

The Iraqi parliament has passed a law which paves the way for provincial elections, after months of wrangling.

The decision brings to an end months of debate over how the law would be applied to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

As a compromise, parliament has agreed to deal separately with the issue of Kirkuk, so that elections can go ahead in other parts of the country.

Agreement over the drafting of the laws has been seen as a key part of political reform in Iraq.

One member of parliament told the BBC the agreement was a sign of national reconciliation.

The law must now go before the country's three-man presidency council, headed by President Jalal Talabani.

The head of the Iraqi parliament's legal committee, Bahaa al-Araji, told reporters that a compromise deal had been reached on Kirkuk.

"We tell our brothers in the south, the centre of Iraq and Kurdistan that this is an achievement by parliament," he said.

"The elections will be soon, so the people of Iraq can put forward their votes to select new local government."

Correspondents say provincial elections are part of an American-backed plan to reconcile rival groups, particularly the Sunnis, who boycotted the last round of provincial elections in 2005. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7633557.stm>

Which direction for Turkey now?

By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent, Istanbul

The US had feared Turkey was facing too much towards the East

Not so long ago the question of "who lost Turkey?" seemed to dominate US think tank discussions and conferences.

Turkey's refusal to allow US troops to use its territory to open a second front against Saddam Hussein provoked the worst crisis in relations between Ankara and Washington that many commentators could remember.

Worse, the arrival into power of the Justice and Development Party (the AKP) with its Islamist roots, which then embarked upon a new foreign policy of outreach towards the Middle East, seemed to confirm the fears of many in Washington.

Turkey, they felt, was inexorably being drawn back into the Middle East and Asia and away from its long-standing anchorage in Nato and the West.

With the US presidential election fast approaching, and with the multiplicity of problems in the Middle East set to be at the top of the next administration's agenda, I came to Turkey to try to answer the question - was this staunch Cold War ally being lost to the West?

Surely things were more complicated? Was Turkey's new orientation being misunderstood by some in Washington? And what did Turkey itself want from the next US administration? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7633134.stm>

Pakistan recovers 'US spy drone'

Surveillance drones have been widely used by Nato in Afghanistan

The Pakistani army has found the wreckage of a suspected US spy plane near the Afghan border but has rejected claims it was shot down.

A military spokesman told the BBC that the drone was recovered on Tuesday in the South Waziristan tribal area and the wreckage was being examined.

The spokesman said the crash appeared to have been due to a malfunction.

The US has not confirmed the loss of the drone. It has denied that any of its aircraft have been shot down.

Meanwhile, fighting between Pakistani troops and Taleban militants is continuing in the tribal region of Bajaur.

In Quetta, capital of south-western Balochistan province, a young girl was killed in a suicide bombing.

About a dozen military personnel were also injured in the assault on an army vehicle. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7632957.stm>

Solar wind blows at 50-year low

By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News

Engineers expect contact to be lost with Ulysses very soon

The solar wind - the stream of charged particles billowing away from the Sun - is at its weakest for 50 years.

Scientists made the assessment after studying 18 years of data from the Ulysses satellite which has sampled the space environment all around our star.

They expect the reduced output to have effects right across the Solar System.

Indeed, one impact is to diminish slightly the influence the Sun has over its local environment which extends billions of kilometres into space.

Even though the end is now in sight, every day's worth of new data is adding to our knowledge of the Sun and its environment

Richard Marsden
Esa's Ulysses project scientist

Confirmation of that prediction should come from the far-distant Voyager spacecraft which were launched in the 1970s and are now bearing down on the edge of the heliosphere - the great "bubble" of wind material that surrounds the Sun.

Scientists now predict the Voyagers will hit the edge and cross over into interstellar space - that region considered to be "between the stars" - sooner than anticipated <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7632331.stm>

Georgia and Ukraine 'shouldn't join Nato'

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

Russian armour in South Ossetia: who started the war?

In a potentially significant swing of expert Western opinion, a leading British think tank has urged that Nato membership should not be granted to Georgia or Ukraine.

"The policy of Nato enlargement now would be a strategic error," said Dr John Chipman, Director General of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

"There is no case for accelerating membership for Georgia and Ukraine. There is a strong case for a pause," he said in remarks introducing the IISS's annual review of world affairs, the Strategic Survey.

Current Nato policy, decided at a summit meeting in Bucharest in April, is that both countries should become members eventually but no timetable has been set. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7623240.stm>

Ingushetia abuses 'may spark war'

Attacks against security forces are on the rise in Ingushetia

Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia is verging on civil war, a human rights group says, accusing officials of state-sponsored terror.

The Moscow Helsinki Group says the federal authorities in the Caucasus republic are engaged in kidnappings, torture and extra-judicial killings.

The authorities say they are fighting a war against terrorism.

Attacks against security forces - often carried out by Islamist militants - have intensified in Ingushetia.

Violence in the predominantly Muslim republic started during the war in neighbouring Chechnya in the late 1990s, when armed separatists began attacking government targets.

'Fear creates rebellion'

The Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) presented its findings on Tuesday, following a recent visit to Ingushetia by several members of the group.

"What's happening there is unthinkable and shouldn't happen in a country which respects the rule of law," MHG president Lyudmila Alexeyeva said at a news conference in Moscow.

The group directly accused the Kremlin-backed authorities in the tiny republic of engaging in state-sponsored terror.

"In Ingushetia, they arrive at people's homes, some are taken away, others are killed right away, there is torture. These actions by the authorities can never be justified in the name of fighting terrorism," Ms Alexeyeva said.

Another MHG member warned that "civil war could break out" in the republic.

"One part of the population is keeping quiet, but another part is taking up the fight. Fear creates rebellion, the federal government takes responsibility for that," Valery Borshchev said.

Armed separatist groups began attacking government targets in Ingushetia in the late 1990s.

The authorities have responded by rounding up hundreds of young men - many complain of beatings and torture, others have never been seen again, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow reports.

Mr Yevloyev had run a website, reporting alleged rights abuses

Earlier this month, security forces in Ingushetia were reported to have broken up an anti-government protest in the main city of Nazran after the death of a prominent local human rights journalist, Magomed Yevloyev, in police custody.

Mr Yevloyev was arrested in August and later shot after getting off a plane on a flight from Moscow.

Police say he was shot by accident while trying to grab a policeman's gun. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7631735.stm>

Profile: Finnish school suspect

The suspect put videos of himself on YouTube

Matti Juhani Saari was known to Finnish police before he decided to turn his guns on his fellow students, killing ten people, then himself.

The 22-year-old culinary arts student was interviewed just one day before the killings, after he posted four clips on video-sharing website YouTube.

The 20-30 seconds long video clips show a man dressed in black or dark colours, firing a handgun in rapid succession at an apparent shooting range.

"You will die next," he calls as he fires the first few shots, looking assured and pleased with himself.

The videos were posted on Friday, five days before the shooting at the Kauhajoki vocational school.

A message posted alongside said: "Whole life is war and whole life is pain. And you will fight alone in your personal war."

Among his interests, the Kauhajoki resident had listed computers, guns, sex and beer. Horror movies were among his favourites. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7631786.stm>

Guantanamo prosecutor steps down

Col Vendeveld wanted to negotiate a plea deal, defence lawyers say

A US military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay has resigned in what defence lawyers describe as a row over ethics.

Lt Col Darrel Vandeveld had quit because his office suppressed evidence that could have cleared a client, defence lawyer Major David Frakt said.

The chief prosecutor has confirmed the resignation, but he denied withholding any evidence.

The case involves an Afghan detainee accused of throwing a grenade at a US military jeep, injuring three people.

The prosecution is said to have withheld evidence that others had confessed to carrying out the attack.

Col Vendeveld is the fourth Guantanamo military prosecutor to quit.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7635028.stm>

'How Bagram destroyed me'

Jawed Ahmad has just been released from US military detention at Bagram air base near the Afghan capital, Kabul. In a rare insider's account of the base, he alleges abuse and, most controversially, that prison guards mishandled the Koran. He spoke to the BBC's Martin Patience.

For Jawed Ahmad the last 11 months have been the worst of his life.

Jawed Ahmad says he will fight to his 'last breath' for justice

"They destroyed me financially, mentally and physically," says Mr Ahmad, 21, wearing a traditional shalwar kameez and sporting a thin, wispy beard.

"But most importantly, my mother is taking her last breath in hospital just because of the Americans."

Mr Ahmad was detained for almost a year in the Bagram air base where US forces imprison suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters. He was freed last Saturday.

The facility has a controversial past - two Afghans were beaten to death by their American guards in 2002.

'Don't move'

Jawed Ahmad was a well-known journalist in Kandahar working for Canadian TV and on occasions the BBC. Previously, he had spent two and half years as a translator for American special forces.

For nine days they didn't allow me sleep - I didn't eat anything

Jawed Ahmad

Profile: Bagram air base

Family visits for Bagram inmates

So, when a press officer from an American military base asked him to come for a chat, he thought nothing of it - these people were supposed to be his friends after all.

"At once around 15 people surrounded me and dropped me to the floor," says Mr Ahmad, becoming increasingly animated as he spoke.

"They shouted at me saying 'don't move' and then they take me to the prison."

Mr Ahmad says that the prison guards - he assumes they were American - then hit him and threw him against truck containers.

But he says that the abuse did not end there.

"For nine days they didn't allow me sleep. I didn't eat anything - it was a very tough time for me," he says. "Finally, they told me you're going to Guantanamo Bay."

He was accused of supplying weapons to the Taleban and having contacts with the movement.

Mr Ahmad protested, saying that as a journalist it was his job. They then, he says, shaved his head and put him in an orange jump suit.

But before leaving Kandahar - his guards had one final message.

"I will never forget it," he says. "They said 'you know what?', and I said 'what' and they said there is no right of journalists in this war." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7635307.stm>

Judge removes Guantanamo adviser

Brig Gen Hartmann was appointed to provide impartial legal advice

A military judge has barred a US general from the second war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay.

The judge, Col Steve Henley, ruled that Air Force Brig Gen Thomas Hartmann, legal adviser to the tribunal, had compromised his objectivity.

Brig Gen Hartmann allegedly "pushed" for Afghan detainee Mohammed Jawad to be charged because of the "gripping" details of his case.

However, moves to dismiss the charges against Mr Jawad were rejected.

Col Henley ruled that the legal adviser's public statements aligning himself with prosecutors and defending the Pentagon's system for prosecuting terrorists suspects had compromised his objectivity.

Brig Gen Hartmann, who was appointed to supply impartial legal advice to the Pentagon appointee overseeing the proceedings, was also barred from the first Guantanamo Bay war crimes trial against Osama Bin Laden's former driver.

'Bullying'

In the current trial, Mr Jawad is accused of throwing a grenade into a US military jeep at a bazaar in Kabul in December 2002. He is charged with attempted murder.

Former chief prosecutor, Air Force Col Morris Davis told the hearing: "The guy who threw the grenade was always at the top of the list."

It was also alleged that Brig Gen Hartmann was "abusive, bullying and unprofessional".

It is now expected that there could be further legal challenges concerning the legal adviser's role in other cases.

Lawyers for the five men accused of involvement in the 11 September attacks - including the alleged ringleader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - are also challenging Brig Gen Hartmann's involvement in the preparation of charges.

Brig Gen Hartmann supervises the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay, which is in Cuba, and has extensive powers over the tribunal system. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7562205.stm>

Finnish massacres 'may be linked'

In one video a man said to be Saari fires shots close to the camera

Finnish investigators say they are a studying a possible link between this week's massacre at a college and another less than 12 months before.

On Tuesday, Matti Juhani Saari, aged 22, shot 10 people in Kauhajoki, before turning his gun on himself.

Last year, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18, shot eight people and himself in Jokela.

Investigators say the two killers had bought their guns in Jokela, possibly even at the same shop. They also could have been in contact with each other.

Auvinen apparently selected his victims at random

"Their actions seem so similar that I would consider it a miracle if we did not find some connecting link," chief investigator Jari Neulaniemi was quoted as saying by Finland's STT news agency on Wednesday.

Mr Neulaniemi also said the two shooters' gun licences indicated that the weapons had been bought at the same store in Jokela.

Investigators declined to provide any further details.

The new information adds to the growing list of similarities between the two shootings: both men posted threatening clips on YouTube before the attacks; both were fascinated by the 1999 Columbine school shooting in the US; both shot themselves in the head.

However, investigators have so far not established a direct link between the two gunmen. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7634937.stm>

Shots fired in US-Pakistan clash

US action along the Pakistan border has raised tensions

The United States military says US and Afghan forces have exchanged gunfire with Pakistani troops across the border with Afghanistan.

A senior US military official says a five-minute skirmish broke out after Pakistani soldiers fired warning shots near two US helicopters.

No one was hurt in the incidents and the US maintains its troops did not cross the border from Afghanistan.

Cross-border action by US-led forces has angered Pakistan in recent weeks.

The latest incident took place along the Pakistani border with the eastern Afghan region of Khost, an area which is a hotbed of militant groups.

Forces from the US-led coalition and the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) patrol the frontier, but Pakistan has been angered by reported US operations across the border in pursuit of insurgents.

A BBC correspondent says the border between the two countries is very unclear and in effect is marked by a 3km-4km (2-2.5 mile) stretch of no-man's land. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7636845.stm>

Pakistan police 'kill militants'

Two Islamist militants have been killed in a raid by Pakistani police on their hideout in Karachi, police said.

Police raided the house and had an exchange of fire with the militants there, said a senior police official.

The militants blew themselves up after they ran out of ammunition, the police said. Officers said they suspected a third man was buried in the debris.

The pair was said to be planning an attack on foreign targets in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7637051.stm>

Pakistan 'kills 1,000 militants'

Pakistani troops have been battling Taleban fighters near the border

Pakistani troops have killed 1,000 Islamist militants in a huge offensive in the Bajaur tribal district over the last month, the army says.

It says that it will regain control of the region from Taleban and al-Qaeda militants within the next three months.

The army says that five top militants were among those killed in the Bajaur operation. The area is one of the most unstable of Pakistan's tribal areas.

There has been no word from militants in relation to the army's claims.

"This is one area that, if you are controlling, can create a much greater effect on the entire region," Maj-Gen Tariq Khan told reporters on a visit to the area arranged by the army.

He estimated that 65% of the militant problem would be eliminated if militants were defeated in Bajaur.

"If they lose here, they've lost almost everything," he added.

"If we do not take any action it will become an independent agency spreading out terror in all directions."

'Al-Qaeda sanctuary'

Maj-Gen Khan said that 27 soldiers had been killed and 111 wounded in the operation, launched last month at the same time as Pakistan's new government was coming under increasing pressure from the US to take action against militants in its border regions.

The army says that many suspected militants have been captured

Correspondents say that there is no way independently to verify the army's claims.

However the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Pakistan says that troops are barely making progress against militants and thousands of people have been displaced.

Our correspondent says that soldiers in Bajaur are not confronted with guerrilla-type attacks or suicide bombings but a situation of conventional warfare in which the militants continue to hold a large swathe of territory.

Maj-Gen Khan said the dead militant commanders were from Egypt, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Another was described as an Arab while the fifth was a Pakistani commander named only as Abdullah.

Bajaur is long believed to have been the most likely al-Qaeda sanctuary inside the Pakistani border region, and has been the target of several suspected US missile attacks since 2006.

It borders the troubled Afghan province of Kunar, scene of some of the fiercest fighting between Pakistani forces and Islamist militants since Islamabad joined the US-led "war on terror" in 2001.

It was also the scene of a missile strike that is believed narrowly to have missed Osama bin Laden's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in January 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7638157.stm>

Bold defiance in Nazi Paris

By Barbara Mellor
Translator of Resistance: Memoirs of Occupied France

Notre Guerre, Souvenirs de Résistance, Agnès Humbert, 1946. The listing on French eBay didn't give much clue as to the treasure that lay in store.

Agnes Humbert's secret journal was first published in 1946

Neither title nor author meant anything to me. But a memoir of the French Resistance published so soon after the war and - most intriguingly - written by a woman, might be worth a couple of euros.

When it arrived, Notre Guerre - its evocative cream-coloured cover darkened with age, its blotting-paper pages roughly cut - exhaled the atmosphere of wartime Paris. There was no preamble, no introduction. As I started to read, I was plunged directly into the Parisians' agonized anticipation of the arrival of the German army in their beloved city in June 1940.

Humbert's journal sent shivers down my spine. The powerful immediacy of the narrative, the raw intensity of the subject matter, the compelling presence of Humbert herself - all were overwhelming, electrifying.

With her artist's eye, her self-deprecating humour, her talent for spotting the absurd and her palpable sense of outrage, Humbert was an irresistible companion

War heroine 'not classed leader'

But who was Agnès Humbert?

A respected middle-aged art historian at one of Paris's most illustrious museums, Agnès Humbert was an unlikely candidate for Resistance heroism. But amid the chaos and bitter ignominy of defeat her soul rebelled ("I feel I will go mad, literally, if I don't do something!").

Her character leapt off the page: impetuous, pugnacious, fiercely intelligent and irreverent, with an indomitable sense of humour, moral passion and integrity that would never desert her throughout the ordeal that awaited her. This was the woman, after all, who (I learned from her fellow résistants) would distribute incendiary tracts in the streets of Paris from supplies stuffed down her stocking tops, who would delight in making Vive de Gaulle stickers to paste on the back of German military vehicles.

With her artist's eye, her self-deprecating humour, her talent for spotting the absurd and her palpable sense of outrage, Humbert was an irresistible companion, who offered a riveting day-by-day account of the genesis of the Resistance.

That stifling summer, in a leap of blind faith and reckless courage, she and a handful of her distinguished colleagues at the Musée de l'Homme - eminent ethnographers and Egyptologists, linguists and librarians - formed what was almost certainly the very first organized Resistance group.

The Gestapo came for Humbert at her sick and elderly mother's hospital bedside

It was as though the upper echelons of the British Museum had turned to new careers as urban guerrillas and saboteurs. In those desperate early days, they could not have known that their unlikely little group would become the nucleus of a great movement; that one of their number would rise to work at De Gaulle's right hand; and that plans they passed to British intelligence would contribute to the strategically crucial raid on the U-boat base at Saint Nazaire in 1942.

By that time, it turned out, they had also recruited a double agent who would betray them to the Gestapo.

Its leaders arrested one by one, the Musée de l'Homme network was to earn a tragic place in history. The Gestapo came for Humbert at her sick and elderly mother's hospital bedside. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7634000/7634154.stm>

Harare diary: Daydreaming over

Esther (not her real name), 28, a professional living and working in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, tells how the initial delight over the power-sharing deal between President Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has fizzled out.

Things are really very quiet. Nothing is happening.

When the deal was signed earlier this month we were all euphoric but now, the devil most certainly is in the detail.

The MDC apparently wants the crucial ministerial posts - home affairs and finance - but says Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party want all the key ministries.

Our lives are haywire again

Initially, the week after the signing of the deal, the parallel market rate dropped quite significantly. It was so strange, going from three rate rises per day to none or even a drop.

It was unbelievable and we were all like: "Oh good, finally things are stabilising."

But by Friday, things were right back to where they were... going up every day.

Our lives are haywire again. Nothing has changed.

I had to stay at home all weekend because I couldn't be bothered to queue for hours to draw cash to pay for public transport. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7641533.stm>

Investigating 'Africa's Guantanamo'

By Robert Walker
BBC News

Salim Awadh is talking to me from inside a cell somewhere in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

There are seven other prisoners kept in the same small, dark room, he starts to tell me.

Kenya's government has long seen Somalia as a haven for terrorists

Then he suddenly stops speaking. I can hear frantic whispering in the background. Then he says it is safe to carry on.

"The conditions are really bad: we don't have enough food, we don't have enough access to medicine. The cell is wet," he says.

"We sleep on the floor rather than the sodden mattresses. One of the other prisoners was beaten so badly he's had his leg broken."

Salim is able to speak to me because he has bribed a guard and got access to a mobile phone.

For weeks I have been trying to find out information about him and other detainees in what has been called "Africa's Guantanamo". It is a story the governments involved do not want to talk about: The first mass rendition of terrorist suspects in Africa.

In January 2007, Ethiopian troops had taken control of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, ousting the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), an Islamist movement which had controlled much of southern Somalia for the previous six months.

They tried to force me to admit that my husband was a terrorist. They said I had to tell them the truth or they would strangle me

Fatma Chande

Members of the UIC, militia fighters and civilians were all fleeing towards Kenya. Among them were Salim Awadh, a Kenyan, and his Tanzanian wife, Fatma Chande. Both of them were arrested as they crossed the border.

"I was kept in a cell with other women. Then the Kenyan anti-terrorist police questioned me - they asked me why we went to Somalia," Fatma says.

I meet Fatma in her small two-room house in Moshi, northern Tanzania. She is quietly spoken and her voice falters as she explains what happened next.

"I told them my husband got a job repairing mobile phones in Somalia. But they tried to force me to admit that my husband was a terrorist. They said I had to tell them the truth or they would strangle me." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7644989.stm>

BBC nuclear bomb script released

Scripts were written to reassure the public the BBC was "still there"

A script written by the BBC and the government to be broadcast in the event of a nuclear attack has been published.

The script, written in the 1970s and released by the National Archives, included instructions to "stay calm and stay in your own homes".

It said communications had been disrupted, and the number of casualties and extent of damage were not known.

Other papers reveal debates about how to ensure the person reading the script was authoritative and comforting.

The script was discussed from 1973 to 1975, during the Cold War. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7648042.stm>

US embassy moving to south London

The US embassy in Mayfair will be put up for sale almost immediately

The US embassy is planning to move from Mayfair's Grosvenor Square to the Nine Elms area in Wandsworth, south London.

Ambassador Robert Tuttle said security and environmental considerations, as well as the need for an embassy fit for the 21st Century, made the site ideal.

He described the UK as a "best friend" of the US and said the American authorities wanted to be close to the centre of government and parliament.

The deal is conditional on the approval of the US Congress and UK authorities.

Self-financing hope

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said Mayfair residents would be likely to welcome the move.

They had complained the security barriers around the present embassy, built after 9/11, would leave their homes susceptible to the greatest damage.

Mr Tuttle said he hoped the project would be self financing because the US had a valuable leasehold to sell in Grosvenor Square.

"This has been a long and careful process. We looked at all our options, including renovation of our current building on Grosvenor Square," he said.

Design competition

"I'm excited about America playing a role in the regeneration of the South Bank of London," he added.

An international design competition will now be held, which the embassy said is intended to produce the best modern design, incorporating the latest energy efficient building techniques.

The current embassy is the largest such US institution in western Europe and one of London's most recognisable buildings. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7649184.stm>

'The most terrifying night of my life'

Tensions had been simmering in Mexico ahead of the Olympic Games

In October 1968, British journalist Robert Trevor was in Mexico City getting ready to cover the Olympic Games which were about to start.

But he ended up reporting on one of the bloodiest episodes in Mexican history, what he calls "the most terrifying night of my life".

Mr Trevor, then aged 34, was the sports editor of the London Evening News and was in the Mexican capital to report on his third Olympics.

In the run-up to the Games, Mexico had been caught up in the wave of social and political unrest that had erupted in other parts of the world throughout 1968. But Mr Trevor says the people he first met were just excited about the sports events.

"The atmosphere was one of pleasure at having the Olympic Games. The Mexicans were proud of their Olympics. They wanted them to go off as well as possible," Mr Trevor told BBC Mundo.

He heard that a political demonstration was planned for the evening of 2 October in Tlatelolco Square, or Plaza de las Tres Culturas. He went along to see if there would be a story in it.

TLATELOLCO TIMELINE

2 Oct 1968: Soldiers spray bullets on demonstrators, number killed unclear. Figures vary between 30 and 300

1990s: After years of official silence, calls for investigations grow

Feb 1998: Legislative commission blames Luis Echeverria, then interior minister and later president. He says the army acted on orders of President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, who died in 1979

2002: Federal investigation ordered

2007: Mr Echeverria's trial on genocide charges suspended due to lack of evidence

2008: 40 years on, families of victims and disappeared still calling for justice, demanding to know who ordered the massacre and exactly how many died

In pictures: Days of violence

On This day: 2 October

"There was a big crowd there, about 3,000," he says, most of them young students and union activists.

"To begin with it was very peaceful and quiet. Everyone was listening to the speeches calling for the resignation of President Diaz Ordaz and for the government to rule according to the Mexican constitution.

"There were calls for better housing, better education, better food."

But then shots were fired from nearby rooftops.

"Before people could grasp what was happening, helicopters arrived, helicopter gunships that started firing down on the crowd," he says.

An American journalist from the UPI news agency standing next to Mr Trevor suddenly found himself covered in other people's blood.

"When the helicopters opened fire and flares were dropped to light up the square, people were absolutely terrified," Mr Trevor recalls.

The crowd began darting down side-streets to try to escape.

"As we ran down the streets we were met by Mexican soldiers in full battle order - steel helmets, rifles - and backed by armoured cars.

"People were being shot at from the front, by the foot soldiers, and from behind by the helicopter gunships, so they were trapped. It was terrible, there was no escape."

Mr Trevor managed to run down a street that eventually took him back to Mexico City's main thoroughfare, Paseo de la Reforma.

"There it was unbelievable because the restaurants were full, people were coming out of cinemas, people were walking up and down the boulevard. Nobody knew what was happening 800m (2,600ft) away. It was unreal."

Mr Trevor headed to a hotel where the International Olympic Committee had its headquarters and met up with other foreign journalists.

Some of them said they had been escorted from the square by security forces before the shooting happened and held at gunpoint in nearby houses until it was all over, so they did not see anything.

Robert Trevor filed his report which was on the front page of the London Evening News the next day.

The killings thrust Mexico into the international spotlight

"I published the story of what I had seen and heard. I also reported the fact that the police commissioner in Mexico City, Luis Cueto, had held a press conference claiming that only 25 people had been killed, including seven policemen. I knew this wasn't true because I had seen more people than that being shot."

In fact, the number of victims has remained shrouded in mystery and controversy. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7646473.stm>

EU trial in absence plan defended

Prisoners could be extradited automatically under the plan

The government has welcomed EU plans to allow British citizens to be tried in their absence in other member states.

British subjects could also be extradited automatically at the request of other EU states under the proposals.

Ministers say it will prevent them fleeing to other member states to escape justice and increase co-operation between legal systems.

But the Conservatives and UKIP say it undermines a fundamental principle of British justice.

Under the EU plan, courts would be allowed to pass judgement in criminal cases and when issuing fines or European Arrest Warrants without the defendants being present.

People accused in their absence would then have the right to a retrial or the right of appeal when extradited.

Rare

The plan was backed by the European Parliament by 609 votes to 60 and now goes to the Council of Ministers for final approval.

It is designed to end uncertainty among member states about whether to recognise in absentia judgements and to make the European Arrest Warrant more effective.

Now we can be dragged away to another country to rot in jail without there even being a pretence of a fair trial

Nigel Farage
UKIP leader

But opponents say it would represent a major change to British law, where trials in absentia were until 2001 banned and are still extremely rare.

Pieter Cleppe, of pressure group Open Europe, said: "This proposal could open the door to serious miscarriages of justice and ministers should not be supporting it." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7596633.stm>

UK terror strategy to be updated

The government's terrorist threat level is at the high end of severe

The government is updating its counter-terrorism strategy to focus more on preventing the radicalisation of Muslims, the BBC has learned.

Officials are increasingly aware of a threat from loners unconnected to al-Qaeda who have become radicalised.

A top priority for the government's strategy, known as Contest, will be reducing the supply of terror recruits.

Working with local communities and dealing with the role of the internet will be key to the updated strategy.

The government's terrorist threat level has remained pegged at its second highest rating - severe - since last summer. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7649763.stm>

Fiction meets fact in Hebron film

By Tim Franks
BBC News, Hebron

The film tells of a girl who breaks curfew to attend her graduation

It is an ordinary story, in an extraordinary setting.

Hebron is the site for what its Israeli makers claim is the first fictional feature film ever to be shot in the city.

The city has become a byword for some of the sharpest tensions on the West Bank. It is the only West Bank city where Jewish settlers live in the midst of Palestinians.

The plot of Graduation is slender: it tells the story of a young Palestinian woman called Ayat, who is played by 23-year-old actress Yousra Barakat.

Ayat is attempting to reach her college graduation on the night of the Jewish festival of Purim. The Palestinians in the centre of the city are under curfew, so that the Jewish settlers can hold their Purim parade - a wild whirligig of coloured lights, loud music, fancy dress and feverish dancing.

I wanted to make the smallest story I could possibly tell, so that people could identify with it, but also say to themselves, 'This is really crazy, how can people live like this?' But yet this is the routine

Yaelle Kayam
Director

Ayat decides, along with her younger brother, to break the curfew. Theirs is an attempted journey past roadblocks, sealed entrances and checkpoints, and past soldiers and settlers.

The film's director is Yaelle Kayam, a 28-year-old from Tel Aviv and graduate of the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem.

"I wanted to make the smallest story I could possibly tell," she says, "so that people could identify with it, but also say to themselves, 'This is really crazy, how can people live like this?' But yet this is the routine."

Ms Kayam believes that the majority of people in Israel are "not aware at all" about what life is like for Palestinians in Hebron, or how the settlers behave.

She says that when she showed friends in Tel Aviv some of the earlier material she had shot, from the Purim parade, they thought that it had all been staged. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7649354.stm>

Militants puzzled by rebellion case against 27 Southern Tagalog activists

D'JAY LAZARO, GMANews.TV

10/04/2008 | 01:21 PM

MANILA, Philippines — The fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday said it was baffled why Globe Telecom filed a rebellion case against 27 activists in Southern Tagalog in connection with the burning of the company’s cell site in Lemery, Batangas last August 2.

“As far as we are concerned, the leaders of cause-oriented groups in Southern Tagalog are leading the fight against land grabbing and widespread human rights violations arising from the government’s counter-insurgency operations in the region under Oplan Bantay Laya II," Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

Hicap said Globe is well informed that these leaders known as ST 27 are focused on more important concerns like agrarian reform, social justice and human rights and don’t have motives nor the physical and armed capacity to burn cell sites.

“They are plain and simple activists and patriots working for the cause of farmers and oppressed folks in the region," Hicap said.

“That’s why it so ridiculous on the part of Globe to file this rebellion complaint. What’s the purpose of this stupid rebellion case? Are they in cahoots with the military in pursuing an all-out campaign of terror and political repression against legitimate people’s organizations?"

Globe and the PNP in Batangas charged the 27 leaders with arson, crimes involving destruction of property and conspiracy to rebellion before the Batangas prosecutor’s office in Batangas City on August 2.

Pamalakaya said it learned that the police was seeking warrants of arrest against the 27 accused. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/124973/Militants-puzzled-by-rebellion-case-against-27-Southern-Tagalog-activists>

11 injured in grenade, rocket attacks in Mindanao

AL JACINTO, GMANews.TV

10/04/2008 | 12:32 PM

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Eleven people were injured in separate rocket and grenade attacks in the restive island of Mindanao, where government forces are fighting Muslim and communists separatist rebels.

Officials said nine people, including five teenagers, were wounded in a grenade attack in Surigao del Norte province late Friday after an unidentified assailant hurled the explosive at a crowd in the village of Urbiztondo in Claver town, a known stronghold of the communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels.

"Nine people were injured in the grenade blast and we still don't know the motive of the attack," said Maj. Armand Rico, a regional army spokesman.

It was unknown if the NPA had anything to do with the blast.

Two villagers were also injured in a rocket attack also on Friday in the town of Kiamba in Sarangani province. The attack was largely blamed by the military to rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate homeland in Mindanao.

Rico said security forces also raided a house in General Santos City and arrested its occupant, Rolando Suplaag, after soldiers and policemen recovered an M18A1 claymore mine, a firing device and five meters of electrical wire.

"Suplaag is still being investigated," he said.

The M18A1 claymore mine is lens-shaped, ground-emplaced antipersonnel explosive and is used primarily in ambushes and as an anti-infiltration device against enemy infantry. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/124971/11-injured-in-grenade-rocket-attacks-in-Mindanao>

China cancels US military contact

The US said the deal would not affect the military balance in the region

China has cancelled military and diplomatic exchanges with the US in protest at a $6.5bn deal to supply Taiwan with arms, US officials say.

A number of senior level visits and military-to-military exchanges due before November would not go ahead, the US defence department said.

The sales include advanced interceptor missiles, Apache helicopters and submarine-launched missiles.

China regards Taiwan as its territory and opposes US military support. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7656050.stm>

Anti-US groups accuse committee of ‘cover-up’

The group says the senate oversight committee is either blinded by ideological preference for US basing or by the military’s dependence on US aid

By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Anti-war coalition opposed to the continued stay of US forces in the Philippines said it would picket in front of the Senate building to demand the closure of American military bases in Mindanao.

The said group noted that US troops have put up small bases inside Philippine military facilities in Zamboanga City and in other parts of central Mindanao where the American forces are supposed to be participating in combat operations against rebels.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon and members of the Legislative Oversight Committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (LOVFA) who had inspected US facilities in Zamboanga City last week said they found no military bases but administrative buildings used by the US forces in humanitarian missions and joint trainings with local troops in Mindanao and Sulu archipelago.

“The US military base in Zamboanga City poses a clear and present danger to the Constitution and to the lives of people, but it seems that the LOVFA is more interested in covering up for the Americans instead of protecting the constitution and promoting peace in the country,” Mitzi Chan, a spokesperson of the Stop The War Coalition, said in a statement. <http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/oct/07/yehey/prov/20081007pro1.html>

Anger over Guantanamo Bay ruling

The 17 have been in Guantanamo Bay for nearly seven years

The White House has reacted angrily after a judge ordered that 17 Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay should be released into the United States.

District Judge Ricardo Urbina said the US could not hold the 17 as they were no longer considered enemy combatants.

The Uighurs were cleared for release in 2004 but the US says they may face persecution if returned to China.

The White House said the ruling could set a precedent that would allow "sworn enemies" to seek US entry.

The government says the 17 also pose a security risk if released into the US.

Lawyers for the Bush administration have argued that federal judges do not have authority to order the release into the US of Guantanamo detainees.

Analysts say the ruling is a rebuke for the US government and could set the stage for the release of dozens more detained at the military jail in Cuba.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7658045.stm>

JDV III, groups fail to file 4th impeachment rap vs Arroyo

FIDEL JIMENEZ, GMANews.TV

10/11/2008 | 03:49 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Civil society groups on Saturday failed to file a new impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after House secretary-general Marilyn Yap authorized to receive the complaint flew to Geneva, Switzerland.

The groups led by businessman Jose "Joey" de Venecia III will instead file the complaint on Monday.

De Venecia III, son of former House speaker Jose De Venecia Jr, earlier exposed the allegedly anomalous $329.48-million national broadband network deal between the Philippine government and China's Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp.

The young De Venecia linked the alleged anomaly to Jose Miguel Arroyo, the President's husband.

De Venecia III said the groups would prevent the likes of Oliver Lozano and Ruel Pulido from spoiling the impeachment process. He said the complaint would be filed before deputy secretary general Ramon Ricardo Roque on October 13 "first thing in the morning."

“We hope that there will be no more Lozanos and Pulidos who will sabotage the process and shield the President from this. We will file it first thing in the morning. We also hope that the Speaker allows this to go through the proper channels," said De Venecia III .

“We wish to send the very strong message to the President that she cannot kill or steal and get away with it. We will pursue this even when she steps down from power in 2010. Itutuloy namin ang laban (We will continue the fight)!" said Iloilo vice governor Rolex Suplico, another complainant.

Other complainants include lawyer Harry Roque; Editha Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos; Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeno, mothers of missing UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno; former transportation undersecretary Josefina Lichauco, activist Renato Constantino, actor Rez Cortez, Linggoy Alcuaz, Leah Navarro, and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chairman Danilo Ramos.

Earlier in the day, lawmakers pushing for the ouster of Mrs Arroyo feared that the new impeachment move would encounter technical problems because Yap went abroad, thus there would be no one at the House who would officially receive the complaint.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said his group was informed of the secretary-general's flight only Friday night. He said Yap's replacement would not be authorized to take over until Monday.

"Weekend ngayon. Si Sec-Gen lumipad papuntang Geneva. 'Di pa sigurado kung tatanggapin ng opisina ng Sec-Gen ang complaint over the weekend (It's weekend now. The secretary-general has flown to Geneva and we are not sure who will receive the complaint)," Casiño said in an interview on dzXL radio.

"Ang appointment paper Oct. 13 pa ang tatak, 'di makakatanggap at makapag-verify until Monday. Medyo inuunawa pa namin bakit nagkaganoon, bakit at the last minute lumipad ang Sec-Gen papuntang Geneva (The acting secretary-general's appointment papers are effective Oct. 13. We're still trying to figure out this development why the secretary general suddenly flew to Geneva)," Casiño said.

But civil society lawyer Harry Roque Jr said his group would push through with their plan to file the complaint at 7:16 p.m. Saturday, 12:01 a.m. Sunday, and 9 a.m. Sunday.

To prevent technicalities, the civil society's impeachment team earlier said it was planning to file the complaint thrice — on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Casiño said his group was expecting that many lawmakers would eventually endorse the complaint, especially after they read the final draft.

He said up to four lawmakers other than party-list lawmakers would likely endorse the complaint. - GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/126479/Civil-society-group-fails-to-file-4th-impeach-raps-vs-Arroyo>

Lawmaker, militant group want military out

Rep. Mangundadatu says presence of Armed Forces has aggravated rivalry of Christians and Muslims

By Isagani P. Palma, Correspondent
Thursday, October 16, 2008
GENERAL SANTOS CITY: Sultan Kudarat Rep. Pax Mangundato and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) questioned the military presence in Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani.

The lawmaker noted that the military presence in Kalamansig town had aggravated the tension brought about by warring Christian and Muslim clans in Sangay Village.

“I would like to request the full withdrawal of the Armed Forces, and leave to us local officials the negotiation and re-establishment of peace in our area,” said Mangundadatu.

Likewise, Bayan Muna spokesman Edward Flores assailed the presence of the Army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion in Maasim, Sarangani saying, “they [military] are nothing but decoys of influential entrepreneurs and politicians who are desguised as good public servants.”

Mangundadatu and Flores have released their separate statements amid reports that six rogue MILF rebels have already been killed while several others wounded since the Saturday fighting in Kalamansig town.

The representative of Sultan Kudarat in a press statement said military presence would only trigger more confusion and atrocities, which would result to more displacements from those living in the hinterlands. <http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/oct/16/yehey/prov/20081016pro1.html>

Jihad website AqsaTube goes offline

By Crispin Thorold
BBC News, Jerusalem

The identity of the creators of AqsaTube remain a mystery

YouTube has been one of the greatest successes of the internet age.

Millions of people use the video-sharing website every day and it has spawned hundreds of imitators.

One of the most recent is AqsaTube - a site with a particular focus on Palestinian militant videos.

Many appear to have been produced by Hamas - the militant group which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 - as well as groups like the al-Quds brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad faction.

They feature masked men firing rockets to the sounds of martial Arabic music.

Also on the menu are videos recorded by suicide bombers before they carried out their attacks, including Mervat Massoud, who injured an Israeli soldier and killed herself during an attack in Beit Hanoun in November 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7672162.stm>

Beach sex sentence 'sets example'

By Christian Fraser
BBC News

Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer have been given a three-month jail term

It was the summer tabloid sensation. A British couple arrested for having sex, on a public beach, in a country of strict Islamic values.

For three months 36-year-old Michelle Palmer and her one night stand Vince Acors were barred from leaving Dubai.

Now they have been sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to leave the country once that sentence has been served. The humiliation is complete.

There had been speculation, given the importance of tourism to the Dubai economy, that the judges sitting on this case would be lenient.

But three months will serve as a warning to others that while the Dubai authorities might turn a blind eye to some things that go on behind closed doors, they won't tolerate this type of drunken behaviour.

Not that Dubai is on its own in considering such behaviour offensive and punishable by law.

'Silly girl'

The couple were arrested in July on the popular Jumeirah beach. They had been drinking all day after meeting at a champagne brunch party.

The policemen who arrested them said, despite an earlier warning about their inappropriate behaviour, he had later returned to find them having sex on a sunlounger.

As the pair were dragged away the policeman said he was assaulted by Ms Palmer who waved a shoe in his face.

There have been so many different versions of the story - tests had proved they did have sex, her lawyer insisted they hadn't, it was even reported they had got married in secret to avoid a harsher sentence.

But even before a verdict had been delivered, Ms Palmer's indiscretion had cost her a tax free executive job and her reputation. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7674085.stm>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Policing the World-08
Globalisation Index
News Index
Index Nation States
Index Cultural Systems
Some personal Reflections on the News
Theory Forming and Articulation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Policing the World (Ongoing -7):

400-year-old volume of Shakespeare recovered a decade after it was stolen

Zimbabwe sanctions vetoed at UN

Uribe and Chavez hail 'new era'

S Korea move signals softer tone

Divided Lebanon forges new future

China 'is fuelling war in Darfur'

Europe's armies chided in report

Afghan survivors tell of wedding bombing

Iraq faces dilemma over US troops

'Breakthrough' in malaria fight

Forests to fall for food and fuel

Brown targets 'problem families'

Sudan head accused of war crimes

Thai troops 'cross into Cambodia'

First Guantanamo video released

Bush's Mid-East legacy

Four Madrid bomb convicts cleared

Pope urges unity against terror

Pakistan's uneasy alliance with US

Sunni bloc rejoins Iraqi cabinet

US attends historic Iran meeting

Autism parents 'infection risk'

Al-Qaeda 'may be shifting focus'

Coalition 'bombs Afghan police'

US sets nuclear deadline for Iran

UK 'must check' US torture denial

Brown in £30m Palestinian pledge

Arab nations 'agree Sudan action'

Zimbabwe leaders 'to sign deal'

Vote setback for Nepalese Maoists

The forgotten French village massacre

Climate documentary 'broke rules'

Restoring Ethiopia's great obelisk

Oyster card hack to be published

Asean grapples with Thai-Cambodia dispute

US anthrax 'suspect' found dead

Top Fatah officials held in Gaza

UN approves India-US nuclear deal

Pakistan spies 'aided Kabul bomb'

Google accused on privacy views

Ill Palestinians 'asked to spy'

Govt position on homeland issue kept secret - Esperon

'Militancy will not run out of steam'

World still wary of modern China

US hearing for 'al-Qaeda' woman

Arctic Map shows dispute hotspots