Policing the World-9

Spies, soldiers, diplomats and ordinary people who have lived through Afghanistan's decades of turmoil speak to Alan Johnston, the BBC's former Kabul correspondent.

........ "The war that America is fighting now has nothing to do with what any American political leader has been willing to tell the Americans," he said.

"We're fighting people who believe that our foreign policy is an assault on their religion and on the people who believe in that religion. You don't have to agree with that, but you have to be an adult in the sense of understanding what motivates your enemy if you hope to defeat him."

Strategy

Among our interviewees there was much criticism of the strategy that the West has pursued on all fronts in the aftermath of the ousting of the Taleban.

It was argued that far too little in the way of troops and resources were thrown into the project, and that the Americans too quickly moved on to the Iraq war - imagining that their work was largely done in Afghanistan.

There was criticism too of the West's collaboration with the former warlords who have done so much damage to Afghanistan in the past.

But the former British diplomat Rory Stewart, who now lives and works in Kabul, took a slightly different line.

"To govern Afghanistan is a bit like being a Chicago ward politician in the 1920s," he said.

"It involves being very good in understanding power, understanding who has power in a local area, and an understanding that if you are going to remove them you have got to think very carefully about who you are going to replace them with."

By Frank Gardner BBC Security correspondent

General David Petraeus has been doing a lot of listening this week.

The newly appointed commander of Centcom, US Central Command, has been meeting Pakistan's top military and security chiefs to decide how best to tackle the Islamist insurgency that flows across the Afghan-Pakistan border.

One of the issues most vexing to Pakistan is the ongoing missile strikes by US unmanned Predator drones, or UAVs, into Pakistan's tribal areas.

Since 1 September, there have been at least 17 of these strikes and, while US officials say al-Qaeda leaders are being successfully targeted, local tribesmen say scores of civilians have been killed.

So just how effective are these UAV strikes in degrading al-Qaeda's ability to operate?

A decapitation policy does make some sense Nigel Inkster International Institute for Strategic Studies

I asked Nigel Inkster, a former Whitehall insider, now Director of Transnational Threats at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"I think that these attacks are having some effect on al-Qaeda leadership. We should bear in mind that the number of al-Qaeda in the tribal areas is not infinite - there are only a few hundred of them.

"And of them, by no means all have the kind of leadership and organisational qualities that al-Qaeda needs to instigate attacks against the West. So a decapitation policy does make some sense."

But the strikes make no sense to the Pakistani authorities, at least not publicly.

P2.8M more seized from Dela Paz in Russia, lawyer admits

MANILA, Philippines – Aside from the 105,000 euros (P6.9 million) that Russian authorities seized from retired Philippine National Police (PNP) comptroller Eliseo dela Paz, another 45,000 euros (P2.8 million) were also intercepted from him, his lawyer confirmed Thursday.

In a radio interview, lawyer Noel Malaya confirmed that Dela Paz carried another 45,000 euros when he was briefly held at the Moscow airport last October 11 for holding an undeclared money excessive of what was allowed.

Malaya said Dela Paz already reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) the separate money on top of the earlier publicly disclosed 105,000 euros.

"Kasama na ‘yan sa report niya sa DFA na dala-dala niyang 45,000 [euros]. Yung 45,000 na ito ay padala ng kaibigan niya [na] may pinabibili ng bagay na isang relo (He already reported to the DFA he carried another 45,000 euros. The money was from his friend who asked him to buy a watch)," Malaya said.

The separate 45,000 euros seized from Dela Paz brings to P150,000 euros or P9.7 million worth of money found in his possession.

Malaya said the report on the separate amount was coursed through the DFA to secure the release of Dela Paz and his wife when they were detained by customs authorities in Moscow.

He added that Dela Paz’s Filipino-Chinese friend named Tyrone Arejola asked him to buy an expensive Swiss-made Roger Dubuis watch during the trip. Malaya said Arejola earlier sent the DFA his affidavit to attest that the money indeed came from him.

The money Arejola gave Dela Paz is equivalent to $58,000. The prices of Dubuis watches range from $32,000 to $134,650.

The lawyer likewise said Dela Paz is willing to let Arejola face the probe on the 45,000 he handed to Dela Paz "but only at the proper forum." .<http://www.gmanews.tv/story/131753/P28M-more-seized-from-Dela-Paz-in-Russia-lawyer-admits>

Ten quick lessons from the US election

For the US political junkies out there, the BBC's Nick Bryant provides "Ten quick and easy lessons" from this break-the-rules election.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7717578.stm>

Moscow to host Mid-East meeting

Quartet mediators concede a Middle East peace deal this year is impossible

The Quartet of Middle East mediators say they will hold a conference in Moscow early next year to push forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The statement follows a meeting of Quartet envoys from the US, the UN, the EU and Russia in Egypt.

They were briefed by Palestinian and Israeli leaders on the progress of their bilateral talks.

Quartet envoy Tony Blair urged US President-elect Barack Obama to make the Middle East an urgent priority.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Moscow conference - planned for the spring next year - must be a step forward in reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

By then, Mr Obama will be in office and February's Israeli elections will have produced a new government. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7718322.stm>

Bali bomb burials stoke tensions

There are fears the bombers' executions could spark reprisal attacks

Indonesian security forces are on high alert after the state execution of three Islamic militants for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

There were reports of clashes as hundreds of supporters attended burials in the men's home villages in Java.

Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron (Mukhlas) were killed by firing squad at 0015 (1715 GMT on Saturday).

They were found guilty of planning twin attacks on nightclubs at the resort of Kuta, popular with Western tourists.

Security forces are on alert across the country amid fears of reprisal attacks.

Australia, which lost 88 of its citizens in the attacks, has issued a warning against travel to the country. Britain and the US have done likewise. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7718246.stm>

Web helps Obama with transition

Change was the key theme of Senator Obama's campaign

Barack Obama is turning to the web as he prepares to become US president.

Via a website called Change.gov, the Obama campaign plans to provide a guide to the transition process.

The site also solicits suggestions from US citizens about their vision for America, and lets them apply for a post with the new administration.

On its transition website, the US governmental watchdog has listed the 13 most urgent issues that will soon confront President-elect Obama.

Job ads

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) listed oversight of US financial institutions and markets, and the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the most pressing issues.

The creation of the Change.gov website is seen by many as making good on Mr Obama's stated aim to make the process of governing more transparent.

A blog on the site will document the transition process, and elsewhere it plans to provide biographies and background on the people Mr Obama is recruiting.

The site will also accept applications for "non-career" posts in the incoming administration. The site does not give details about posts for which it is seeking recruits, but it said some of the roles would require "Senate approval" suggesting they could be positions of some influence.

The site also wants US citizens to tell their stories about what Obama's campaign meant to them, and pass on their "vision" for what they would like to see happen in America. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7715264.stm>

Tibetans' risky journey into exile

By Sally Ingleton Producer, This World

In September 2006, two groups of people crossed paths in the snow-capped Himalayas - one seeking freedom, the other adventure. A brutal shooting threw them together, changing their lives for ever.

Each year an estimated 2,500 Tibetans make the dangerous and illegal crossing through the Himalayas into India.

Many are young teenagers seeking freedom both in religious practice and in their education. A big incentive is the prospect of meeting their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India.

THIS WORLD Murder in the Snow Monday, 10 November, 2008 1900 GMT on BBC Two

In 2006 the plight of these refugees came to international attention when a group of mountain climbers witnessed and recorded Chinese border police opening fire on one group of pilgrims as they made their way across the Nangpa pass in the Himalayas, 18,000 feet (5,500m) above sea level.
 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/7715401.stm>

Octopuses share 'living ancestor'

By Mark Kinver Science and environment reporter, BBC News

Megaleledone setebos, the common ancestor of deep-sea octopuses Enlarge Image

Many of the world's deep-sea octopuses evolved from a common ancestor that still exists in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean, a study has shown.

Researchers suggest that the creatures evolved after being driven to other ocean basins 30 million years ago by nutrient-rich and salty currents.

The findings form part of a decade-long global research programme to learn more about life in the world's oceans.

The first Census of Marine Life (CoML) is set to be completed in late 2010.

The project, which began back in 2000, involves more than 2,000 scientists from 82 nations.

The research into the evolution of deep-sea octopuses was part of a programme called the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), explained Don O'Dor, CoML's co-senior scientist.

"Many of these octopuses were collected from the deep sea by a number of the CoML's different projects," he told BBC News.

Octopus specimens collected by Census of Marine Life researchers Enlarge Image

"All of that material was brought together and made available to Dr Jan Strugnell, a biologist at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, and she used this material to carry out DNA studies.

"She was looking at the relationship between these different deep-sea octopuses and how they originated.

"She has been able to trace the timeline for their distribution back 30 million years to a common ancestor."

The species could all be traced back to a shallow-water octopus called Megaleledone setebos, which is only found in the Southern Ocean.

Dr O'Dor added that the BAS researcher's work also enabled her to identify how changes in the region's ocean played a pivotal role in the development of the new species, especially the emergence of a "thermohaline expressway".

"When you get an increase in sea ice, fresh water forms ice crystals and leaves behind high-salinity, high-oxygen water, which is denser than the surrounding sea water, so it sinks," he explained.

We can use the first census as a benchmark to see what happens in the oceans over the next decade or more Dr Don O'Dor, CoML's co-senior scientist

"It gets mixed by sea currents and flows into all of the deepest parts of the ocean.

"At the time this process started, there was no oxygen at the bottom of the ocean, so it brought oxygen into these areas, and we can now see that the octopuses moved out from the Antarctic into deeper water."

Dr Stagnell's work also showed how the creatures adapted to the new deep-sea environment.

One example was the loss of their ink sacs, because there was no need for the defence mechanism in the pitch black waters.

As well as being one of the CoML's highlights, the research is also being published in the journal Cladistics on Tuesday. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7715741.stm>

Transition timetable for Obama

US President-elect Barack Obama does not officially start his new job at the White House until 20 January but he already has a long to-do list. These include completing several official procedures and choosing advisers, as well as some informal steps.

 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7712622.stm>

Senior Rwandan official arrested

Ms Kabuye has heroic status in Rwanda as an MP and former guerrilla

German police have arrested a senior Rwandan official in connection with the killing of a previous president whose death triggered the 1994 genocide.

Rose Kabuye - the chief of protocol for current Rwandan President Paul Kagame - was detained on arrival at Frankfurt on a warrant issued by a French judge.

She is one of nine senior Rwandan officials wanted over the shooting down of Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.

All are members of the party which ousted the genocidal regime.

Correspondents say Ms Kabuye, a former guerrilla fighter with the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), now Rwanda's ruling party, has heroic status in Rwanda.

She has since served as an MP and mayor of the capital Kigali, and is one of President Kagame's closest aides. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7718879.stm>

Fears of disease in Congo camps

Aid agencies expect the number of cholera cases to rise

A cholera outbreak is threatening tens of thousands of people who have fled fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, aid agencies have warned.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says it has seen more than 45 cases around the city of Goma and the number could rise.

Meanwhile, the UN says fresh fighting has erupted between rebels in an area to the east of the country.

It is the first new fighting since African leaders called for a ceasefire during a summit in Nairobi on Friday.

MSF doctor Megan Hunter said people in the Kibati camp, close to Goma were living in "very bad sanitary conditions".

She said that in the Kibati camp alone, MSF had seen 45 people with suspected cholera since Friday.

"All the risk factors are there for an explosion of a major epidemic," said Ms Hunter.

There are also fears that the disease could be spread further if increased fighting causes infected people to run away from camps.

An estimated 250,000 people have now fled the fighting between rebel forces of Gen Laurent Nkunda and pro-government militias.

Gen Nkunda says he is fighting to protect his Tutsi community from attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels, who fled to Congo after the 1994 genocide. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7719030.stm>

Coronation in the Dragon Kingdom

A process of modernisation and democratisation is under way in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and a new, young king has just ascended the throne in a ceremony steeped in Buddhist ritual. Charles Haviland was in the capital, Thimphu, to watch the celebrations.

As I write this, in a simple wooden house on top of a hill, the suburb around me is quiet.

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel is the world's youngest reigning monarch

But the city down below is immersed in coronation fever, above all in the stadium specially built for the royal celebrations.

At this moment, if the minute-by-minute timetable is correct, the king is being presented with one horse with a golden saddle, one horse with a silver saddle, one mule with a leather saddle and other treasures.

The ground is packed with 20,000 people, one-fifth of Thimphu's population.

Over these days of festivities, strings of glistening lights will continue to bedeck the city, even its petrol stations.

Ceremony

The coronation itself, a day earlier, was the height of pageantry.

In a massive, whitewashed fort-cum-monastery, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel had the crown, mounted with a raven and adorned with skulls, placed on his head by his retiring father.

The coronation was a riot of colour, dance and tradition

That day a troupe of monks in scarlet head-dresses had greeted the wintry dawn from the rooftop, with clanging cymbals and long, droning horns.

Folk dancers from all over the country whirled, young lads dressed as warriors performed, and VIPs both local and foreign paid homage.

Underneath all this technicolour is a country taking deliberate but slow steps towards democracy.

While crowds and then voters in Nepal - a short step away along the Himalayas - were sacking their king, Bhutanese people in their thinly populated forest kingdom were voicing the fear that democracy would bring chaos.

What role the new king, with his swept-back hair and gentle smile, might have in political evolution is unclear

But the previous King, Jigme Singye, mindful of the need for reform, insisted they needed some democratic medicine. So there were elections in March, which just two parties were allowed to contest.

For good measure, the king also stepped down in favour of his well-liked son. So this is a democracy led by the royals - introduced at His Majesty's pleasure.

Bhutan is a nation of subjects and, as the banners say: it loves its kings.

And many would say it is doing very nicely as it is.

Modernisation

Thimphu does not feel like a city of the Indian subcontinent. It is a neat little place with white railings, roundabouts and white lines in the middle of the road.

Thimphu is the only world capital without traffic lights

Its beautiful houses, with ornate friezes and carvings, have the Tibetan feel that so many foreigners are drawn to. Men and women are dressed neatly in the bright national costumes that are compulsory for government and public work.

In more material terms, the country has made strides that its populous neighbours might envy.

It has free education, free healthcare and universal child immunisation, and laws that protect a good portion of its pristine forest land.

It is not paradise, though. Bhutan's drive to modernise while keeping its traditions has gone alongside a vigorous assertion of national identity which has tended to alienate some of its many ethnic minorities, especially, but not only, the large Nepali-speaking community. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7715600.stm>

PM to urge global finance reform

Mr Brown wants Britain, the US and Europe to take the lead

Gordon Brown will use a keynote foreign policy speech later to argue the global financial crisis has given world leaders a major opportunity for change.

The PM, in his annual speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet in London, is expected to call for the rebuilding of the international financial system.

He will urge countries to forge a new way of working together that is "hard headed and progressive".

His speech will also be watched for any suggestions of possible UK tax cuts.

'Seize the moment'

Mr Brown's comments in recent days about the need for a fiscal stimulus to boost the domestic economy have given rise to mounting speculation about possible moves in that direction.

Ahead of a meeting of leaders of the world's 20 major economies in the US at the weekend, Mr Brown is expected to say that recent co-ordinated global action during the credit crisis showed the potential of a stronger multilateralism.

If we learn from our experience of turning unity of purpose into unity of action, we can together seize this moment of change in our world to create a truly global society Gordon Brown

He will argue that 2008 should not be remembered just for the failure represented by the financial problems, but for the way countries reacted and "discovered and refashioned the global power of nations working together".

"While I see a world that is facing financial crisis and still diminished by conflict and injustice, I also see the chance to forge a new multilateralism that is both hard headed and progressive.

"And if we learn from our experience of turning unity of purpose into unity of action, we can together seize this moment of change in our world to create a truly global society," Mr Brown will say, according to pre-released extracts of his speech.

The UK, the US and Europe are key to establishing a new world order, he will argue. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7719017.stm>

Indonesia's risk of making martyrs

By Lucy Williamson BBC News, Cilacap

Supporters of the executed men chant in front of Imam Samudra's home

For men who turned the eyes of the world to Indonesia, it was a small and muted death.

Just a handful of witnesses and a firing squad, hidden away on Indonesia's prison island.

There, in the darkness around midnight, three men convicted of carrying out Indonesia's worst ever bomb attack, were shot though the heart.

It was the end of a six-year story that changed Indonesia, and its place in the world.

That story began in the darkness of another night - 12 October 2002 - on the nearby island of Bali, when bomb attacks ripped through two of the island's busiest nightspots.

More than 200 people died: tourists, taxi drivers, night-club staff.

Among the dead were 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians and 28 Britons.

'Too long'

Or perhaps the story really began earlier, in Java's small villages. With three boys radicalised by a new generation of Islamic warriors - in Afghanistan and elsewhere - who fell in with South-east Asia's network of radical Islamists, al-Jemaah Islamiya.

I saw on the television what they did in Bali - they're international-level terrorists Sadiman, local resident

Wherever you begin the story, those attacks, carried out in the name of Islam, remade Indonesia's sense of itself - and its relations with others.

And by the time they died tonight, those three men - Amrozi Nurhasyim, his brother Ali Ghufron (Mukhlas) and their colleague, Imam Samudra - had become some of its most famous faces.

It has been a long, unsettled wait for their executions. Most Indonesians - 85% of them Muslim - are firmly behind the death sentences handed down in 2003. Many even complained the government was taking too long.

Just days before the executions were carried out, locals here in the town of Cilacap - the main crossing point to the prison island - were dismissive.

"It's taken too long already," said Agus as he sold soup to crowds gathering outside the crossing point. "They should have been shot a long time ago."

Australian tourists hug at the site of the 2002 bomb blast

"The sooner they're executed the better," said Sadiman, another local resident who had come to see the arrival of so many heavily armed police in his tiny town.

"I saw on the television what they did in Bali - they're international-level terrorists."

Some of those years of waiting are the result of legal appeals. Repeated attempts by the men's lawyers to argue that their conviction was unsound; that they had not been given a proper hearing.

A major sticking point has been the fact that the three men were tried and convicted under controversial anti-terrorism legislation passed immediately after the Bali attacks.

Their lawyers argued it could not be used retroactively.

Indonesia's Constitutional Court agreed. But its ruling was ignored by higher panels, and earlier this year the country's chief prosecutor said the three men had finally exhausted all legal avenues of appeal.

Well, not quite all. Amrozi and his colleagues never expressed remorse for the attacks - never regretted killing people they describe as "infidels". That meant they could never appeal to the highest authority in the land - and never asked for a presidential pardon. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7718209.stm>

By Fergus Walsh BBC News medical correspondent

The building will bring together animal research currently conducted at around half a dozen facilities in the city.

Construction began five years ago but building work halted for more than a year when the contractors pulled out, citing intimidation from animal rights groups.

The four storey Oxford animal lab is still surrounded by anonymous wooden hoardings topped with barbed wire.

It is ringed with cameras and is a highly secure building.

Inside, biosecurity is a key feature.

Before getting to see the first animals I had to put on protective overalls, plastic shoe covers and a hairnet.

This is mostly to protect the animals from any germs I might bring in.

The first animals moved in were mice, which is perhaps appropriate given that rodents will make up 98% of the inhabitants.

Eventually there will also be zebrafish, tadpoles, frogs and small numbers of guinea pigs, gerbils and hamsters.

There will be no cats or dogs and no farm animals.

Macaque monkeys

But most controversial of all, there will be macaque monkeys.

Like man, macaques are primates and have a highly developed brain.

Scientists at Oxford say this makes them crucial for research into neuro-degenerative disorders like Parkinsons's and Alzheimer's.

An entire floor of the new building is given over to macaque research.

Around 100 monkeys will be housed there.

There are several monkey holding rooms, each with a large u-shaped cage which is subdivided into five play and five living areas.

The University says the macaques will spend very little time in individual cages.

There are ladders and shelves to climb on and rubber tyres.

The macaques have not been moved to the new building yet, but I did see the current monkey facility.

The University points out that it meets all the requirements laid down by the Home Office for animal research, but it has less individual space than the new lab and there is no access to natural daylight. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7721919.stm>

Progress was not immediately impressive, but that operation did achieve the symbolically important result of piercing the Hindenburg Line, which was supposed to be impregnable.

For Erich Ludendorff, the German commander, the jig was up. On 1 October, he told his general staff that "final defeat was probably inescapably at hand". The task now was to avoid ignominious defeat.

The Germans therefore notified US President Woodrow Wilson on 6 October that they were willing to discuss an armistice.

They approached Mr Wilson because they hoped to get a good deal from a leader who seemed humane.

That immediately aroused the suspicions of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and French President Georges Clemenceau, both of whom were determined to make Germany pay for the suffering the war had caused.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7720410.stm>

Ex-Khmer Rouge admirer says sorry

By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

Finding himself back in a much changed Phnom Penh after a 30 year absence probably has a lot to do with it.

But repeatedly explaining how his younger self was conned must surely have had an impact as well.

This former Khmer Rouge supporter is here on a mission of redemption and reconciliation.

In just two days he has already visited genocide memorials and former torture centres, faced a grilling on Cambodian television, and a seminar audience full of survivors of the Pol Pot era.

Over the next two weeks, he will take a similar message of contrition to the provinces. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7735881.stm>

By Lucy Williamson BBC News, Jakarta

The communications minister said the drawings were "very inappropriate", and said if necessary he would ask internet service providers to block the site.

The cartoons, which appeared on the website last month, have provoked fierce debate among viewers.

Many Muslims believe it is forbidden to depict Muhammad in any form.

The two cartoons, which are several pages long, each tell a sexually explicit story involving the Prophet, interspersed with verses apparently lifted from the Koran.

Indonesia's communications minister described the cartoons as "very unethical and very inappropriate".

He said the ministry was asking the website to remove them. And if necessary, he said, it would ask internet service providers to block access to the website itself.

A ministry spokesman said the cartoons were offensive, not just to Muslims, but to all religions.

There were protests in Indonesia two years ago when cartoons depicting Muhammad appeared in a Danish newspaper. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7737223.stm>

By Will Grant BBC News, Caracas

The notorious Caracas neighbourhood of 23 de Enero is one of the most deprived parts of the Venezuelan capital and seems a world apart from leafy Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire.

But for the past week, a group of head teachers from 10 British schools have been working in some of the poorest areas in the city on an educational exchange programme known as Connecting Classrooms.

The scheme, in which their Venezuelan counterparts will visit schools in London and Hertfordshire next year, is designed to improve both the Venezuelan and the British approaches to teaching in difficult social environments.

"We've been working in schools in particularly challenging circumstances," said Steven Connors, the head teacher of Manor Fields Primary School in Hertfordshire.

"And although they're in tough parts of town, what we found was that the schools were serving their communities in the most amazing way. They were oases of calm and order where children are able to get that one life opportunity to get an education."

The teachers now hope the Connecting Classrooms project, which is overseen by the British Council, will be extended to state-run "Bolivarian" schools across Venezuela following a meeting with the country's education ministry on Tuesday. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7737000.stm>

By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent BBC News website

The predictions are contained in a report called Global Trends 2025 from the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which brings together all the US intelligence agencies. The Global Trends reports are issued every five years and this is the fourth of its kind.

Among its predictions: the US will remain the most powerful country but will be less dominant; power will shift from West to East; the appeal of al-Qaeda will lessen; a multipolar world will emerge with China, India and others playing greater roles; an "arc of instability" will stretch round the world among countries with young populations.

First, a note of scepticism about these reports.

In 1980, when Ronald Reagan was campaigning against President Jimmy Carter for the US presidency, he did so on the basis that the United States was about to be overwhelmed by the Soviet Union and Japan. At that time, Japan filled the role that China does now - it was going to take over the world with its economic muscle.

United States

In fact it was the US that reasserted itself. Part of it was the Bill Gates effect. A whole new industry was invented to help cushion the impact of the death of the old. Microsoft ruled the world. It was Japan that entered a long period of relative stagnation and indeed is hardly ever talked of these days as a world influence. As for the Soviet Union, we know what happened.

That collapse in itself should give us pause when looking at this kind of long-range report. Almost nobody predicted it. Those that did were crying in the wilderness. The same people who failed in their predictions were then wheeled out to explain why the collapse they had not foreseen had taken place.

The same thing is going on right now over the financial crisis. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7741237.stm>

People expect different things of philosophers. Some expect us to be sages. When these people meet me, my heart sinks, since I know theirs is about to. Others expect us to have a steady supply of aphorisms up our sleeves, such as that love is never having to say you're sorry (something no partner of mine has ever been persuaded of).

They too are disappointed when they meet me, especially when I say that the glass so beloved by optimists and pessimists is both half full and half empty.

Others expect of us not sagacity, but madness, or at least outlandish beliefs. And here, it must be said, some philosophers really have delivered. Thales believed that everything is made of water, for example, while Pythagoras avoided eating beans because he believed they have souls.

As Princeton philosopher David Lewis once said: "When philosophers follow where argument leads, too often they are led to doctrines indistinguishable from sheer lunacy."
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7739493.stm>

Writing in Current Biology, researchers say the creature leaves tracks on the seabed which mirror fossilised tracks left up to 1.8 billion years ago.

Many palaeontologists believe only multi-celled organisms could have made these tracks.

This has been difficult to confirm as no multi-cellular fossils of such an age have ever been found. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7739703.stm>

Fifty-eight-year-old Silvana Fucito was terrified the first time a member of the Camorra came into her shop, put a gun on the counter and said "either you pay up or we'll kill you".

Yet this tiny woman, with her manicured nails and diamante hair clips, told her husband to step aside. She would deal with the Camorra.

She hoped they would show respect to a woman. Instead they threw a petrol bomb into her paint shop.

The collusion between politicians and criminal organisations represents the true strength of the Camorra and Mafia Franco Roberti Anti-mafia prosecuting judge

Her neighbours, who narrowly escaped with their lives, did not blame the Camorra - a criminal organisation with a multi-billion dollar turnover, considered more powerful today than the Sicilian Mafia.

Instead they blamed Silvana, for breaking the rules of what they call "the system".

Nonetheless, Silvana reported the crime, sending 15 senior Camorristi (Camorra members) to prison. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7739993.stm>

When did baby Richa finally fall silent?

Social workers direct the question about the three-year-old girl to an extended family living in a mud-and-thatch hut in the bleak landscape of Jamoda in Madhya Pradesh. It is the country's second biggest state in size and also one of its poorest.

The workers belong to a group that is raising the issue of chronic hunger and malnutrition.

"She died recently. She had measles. The quack gave her an injection, but she did not survive," says Kolai Bai, grandmother of the dead girl, matter-of-factly. She is now left with six grandchildren.

MADHYA PRADESH Date of election: 27 November Counting of votes: 8 December Total constituencies: 230 Total voters: 36054717 Total candidates: 3179 State elections guide

In these parts, more and more children like Richa are "falling silent" because of diseases associated with malnutrition and hunger.

But their deaths remain cold statistics; they largely escape the attention of political parties battling to win the upcoming state elections.

Groups like the Right to Food Campaign insist that malnutrition is chronic in vast swathes of Madhya Pradesh.

Some 325 children, they say, have died of diarrhoea, measles and acute respiratory distress - diseases typically associated with severe malnutrition - in just four districts between May and October this year.

More worryingly, they say, the government is in complete denial.

Authorities blame illegal doctors for making matters worse and say the children are dying of diseases common elsewhere in India.

However, the first India State Hunger Index (Ishi) this year found that Madhya Pradesh had the most severe level of hunger in India, comparable to Chad and Ethiopia.

Even federal health surveys show that 60% of children under the age of six in the state are malnourished - more than 12% of these severely so.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules the state, does not mention the issue in its manifesto.

The opposition Congress party takes note of it and promises to make Madhya Pradesh a "malnourishment-free" state if voted into power. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7747313.stm>

By George Alagiah BBC News, Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan

Brigadier Gordon Messenger is every inch a military man, which makes it all the more surprising to hear him settle for something that sounds suspiciously close to second best.

He would deny that characterisation of his words, but accepts there are limits to the Afghanistan project.

The Afghanistan British troops leave behind - and no-one is willing to commit to any timeline other than to repeat the mantra that it will take "many years" - is going to be an imperfect state.

Parts of it may well remain beyond the reach of central government in Kabul, and some of those responsible for the mayhem of the last 30 years could well retain much of their power and influence, perhaps even their militia.

New realism

It is a far cry from the beacon of democracy some had hoped for.

"I don't think it will be recognisable in Western Europe, but Afghanistan will be something which will provide good enough security for the people. I think good enough should be what we look for," the brigadier said.

"It's not second best, it's realistic."

There is a new realism in the air. In fact, all that has happened is that the rhetoric is finally catching up with what is actually happening on the ground.

My guess is that ordinary Afghans have known for some time that the liberation of 2001 offered more promise than delivery. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7747145.stm>

By Jim Muir BBC News, Tehran

A few minutes later, a bright green taxi draws up outside Roqaya's home in a suburb of west Tehran.

At the wheel is Sahar Foghani, one of around 700 women cab drivers in Tehran who are making a living, or supplementing the family income, working for a taxi agency run by women, for women.

It's a scenario that would be unthinkable in nearby Saudi Arabia, where women are banned from driving.

Women's rights in Iran may have some way to go.

But they are free to go out on their own, to drive their own vehicles, or to take taxis driven by men if they like.

'Better drivers'

But Roqaya Khalili is one of around 40,000 registered customers who prefer to move around in cabs with women in the driving seat.

"I feel safer in a woman's taxi, from all points of view," she says.

"A lot of the men drivers are young and impatient, and they're not disciplined. Women are simply better drivers."

That's a view with which Sahar Foghani, battling daily with Tehran's traffic jams and antisocial driving habits, clearly agrees.

"I've been driving for nearly two years now, and have never had a bump, or a violation ticket," she says.

Sahar has two teenage children, and says she took to the roads to help her husband make ends meet in harsh economic times.

"It's tough on the kids, as they're often stuck at home on their own, but they've been really helpful," she says.

Like 70% of the drivers working for Women's Taxis, Sahar owns her own car, buying it off the company in instalments.

"I can pay off the car over 60 months, so this is an investment as well as providing some extra income," Sahar says.

"Tehran traffic is really heavy, so you have to love driving to do this job," she adds. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7747677.stm>

A Swedish team found a strong link between poor leadership and the risk of serious heart disease and heart attacks among more than 3,000 employed men.

And the effect may be cumulative - the risk went up the longer an employee worked for the same company.

The study is published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Stressful environment

Experts said that feeling undervalued and unsupported at work can cause stress, which often fosters unhealthy behaviours, such as smoking, that can lead to heart disease.

Previous work has shown that unfair bosses can drive up their employees' blood pressure, and persistent high blood pressure can increase heart disease risk.

For the latest study, researchers from the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University tracked the heart health of the male employees, aged between 19 and 70 and working in the Stockholm area, over a period of nearly a decade.

During this time 74 cases of fatal and non-fatal heart attack or acute angina, or death from ischaemic heart disease, occurred.

All the participants were asked to rate the leadership style of their senior managers on competencies such as how clearly they set out goals for their staff and how good they were at communicating and giving feedback.

Feeling undervalued and unsupported can cause stress, which often leads to unhealthy behaviours...adding to your risk of developing heart problems Cathy Ross of the British Heart Foundation

The staff who deemed their senior managers to be the least competent had a 25% higher risk of a serious heart problem.

And those working for what was classed as a long time - four years or more - had a 64% higher risk.

The findings held true, regardless of educational attainment, social class, income, workload, lifestyle factors, such as smoking and exercise, and other risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7745324.stm>

By Barbara Plett BBC News, Islamabad

Last week in Islamabad the prime minister told parliament that unilateral US air strikes on militant targets inside Pakistan had become intolerable and the army chief of staff, on a visit to Brussels, urged Nato to stop them.

At the same time a series of US military officers claimed that co-operation between the two armies was improving and, in fact, had been taken to the "next level" of co-ordination and intelligence sharing.

So which statement is right? Probably both. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7747932.stm>

By Rajini Vaidyanathan BBC News, Washington

It started like this:

"I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history.

"And I don't want you to forget how we did it….."

With a personal sign off at the end saying "Thank you, Barack", it felt intimate, yet this was a mass e-mail, sent to the millions who had subscribed to Barack Obama's campaign alerts.

One of the things that I'm excited about is to transfer what we've learned from this campaign in using technology, into government Barack Obama

His presence on sites such as such as Facebook and Myspace created online communities which organised supporters to register, campaign, and ultimately go out and vote. He also sent out news via text message, using the medium to inform people of his vice-presidential choice.

In an interview before the election, he spoke of how he wanted to continue that conversation into the White House:

"One of the things that I'm excited about is to transfer what we've learned from this campaign in using technology, into government. I mean, there are huge areas where we can open things up, make things more transparent," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7754485.stm>

BBC Afghanistan correspondent Ian Pannell, granted rare access to the main US Air Force targeting base at an undisclosed location in the Middle East, spent a day looking at how decisions are made about where to attack and when.

It is the centre of gravity for all air operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is home to some 8,000 military personnel.

We are told that we are the first foreign journalists to be allowed inside the top secret operations room, but we are not allowed to say where we are or take any recording equipment inside.

"It is frustrating because we take a large effort to avoid civilian casualties," says Col Gary Brown, the judge advocate for the US Air Force Combined Air and Space Operations Centre.

There are hundreds of people working around-the-clock to draw up the "air-tasking order".

This is the master-list for the day's operations. Some 300 missions are controlled from here every day, including air strikes against the Taliban.

Insurgent clashes

Unfortunately, sometimes the target is missed. Thousands of innocent people have died in Afghanistan since the US-led war in 2001.

Most of these deaths arise not from pre-planned operations but from rapid responses to incidents on the ground, usually clashes with the insurgents.

We were given a guided tour of the top secret "combat operations room". We watched clear images from drones flying hundreds of miles away over remote parts of Afghanistan.

Giant screens track the movement of planes supporting US troops in action.

We were allowed in because America wants to defend its record, to show how much effort goes into minimising casualties.

Col Brown says air power is one of America's great asymmetric advantages but bemoans the Taleban's use of the media, what he calls "their asymmetric advantage".

Every civilian casualty at the hands of the US or Nato generates headlines and angry statements in Afghanistan. Every incident makes the task of the government and the coalition harder.

Now American military officials are accusing the Taleban of deliberately increasing the risk of civilian casualties.

Col Eric Holdaway, director of intelligence, says there is clearly documented evidence that "some of our enemies have clearly located themselves amongst civilian populations or [have] moved into buildings occupied by civilians and increased the risk to those civilians".<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7755969.stm>

Farc is holding hundreds of hostages in jungle camps, either for ransom or to exchange for government-held rebels.

In Madrid, Ingrid Betancourt - held for six years by Farc - appealed for the rebel group to release its captives.

The protests were smaller than ones held earlier this year, when millions marched in support of the hostages.

"We are thinking during these moments of those who are chained to a tree, who live in humiliation, we carry this cross with them and we want to relieve them of these chains," Ms Betancourt said.

"We invite Farc to lay down their arms," she added.

She was rescued along with three American military contractors and 11 Colombian military personnel in a daring rescue operation in July. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7755995.stm>

'Mummy, can I phone the pirates?'

One of the biggest frustrations facing journalists is being unable to get through to people on the phone. But as Mary Harper discovered, contacting the Somali pirates on the Sirius Star turned out to be child's play.

It was a cold, dark, wet and miserable Sunday afternoon. I was in my car, driving my 12-year-old daughter and her friend back from a birthday party. I was tired and fed up from being in the car.

"Mummy, mummy," trilled a voice from the back. "I want to phone the pirates."

My daughter had heard me repeatedly trying to get through to the Somali pirates on board the Sirius Star.

They usually picked up the phone but put it down again when I said I was from the BBC. My obsession with getting through to them had reached the point that I had even saved their number on my mobile phone.

"Mummy, mummy, please can I phone the pirates for you?"

"No."

"Pleeeeez."

By this time, with rain battering my windscreen and cars jamming the road, I was at the end of my tether.

"OK", I said, tossing the phone into the back of the car.

"They are under P for pirates."

Giggling with pirates

"Hello. Please can I talk to the pirates," said my daughter in her obviously childish voice.

I could hear someone replying and a bizarre conversation ensued which eventually ended when my daughter collapsed in giggles.

Our last resource is the sea, and foreign trawlers are plundering our fish Daybad, Somali priate

This was a breakthrough. Dialogue had been established.

The next day, I went to the crowded office in Bush House in London where the BBC Somali Service is based. I told them the story.

"Let's try now," said producer Said Musa, who, dare I say it, looks a bit like a pirate himself. He has a wild look about him with flashing eyes and a swashbuckling saunter.

He dialled the number. A pirate answered. "I'm sorry," he barked in Somali, "the boss pirate is sleeping. He was very busy last night keeping watch for possible attackers, night time, you know, is the busiest time for us. Call back in two hours." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7754622.stm>

By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News

For Lt Col Darrel Vandeveld, a devout Catholic, the twin responsibilities of religious faith and military duty led to a profound moral crisis.

His resignation has led to charges against six inmates being dropped, at least for now, and called into question the possibility of a fair legal process at Guantanamo.

"I know so many fighting men and women who are stained by the taint of Guantanamo, so I'm here to tell the truth about Guantanamo and how a few people have sullied the American military and the constitution," he told me during an interview in his home town of Erie, Pennsylvania.

It took me too long to recognise that we had abandoned our American values and defiled our constitution Lt Col Darrel Vandeveld

A reservist, Darrel Vandeveld was called up as a military lawyer after 9/11 and served in Iraq, Bosnia and Africa.

In 2007, he became a prosecutor for the military commissions which tried terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, a role he took enthusiastically.

"I went down there on a mission and my mission was to convict as many of these detainees as possible and put them in prison for as long as I possibly could," he told the BBC.

"I had zero doubts. I was a true believer."

But his zeal did not last long.

When he arrived, he says he found the prosecutor's office in chaos, with boxes scattered around the floor, files disorganised, evidence scattered in different places and no clear chain of command.

And more seriously, he soon discovered that defence lawyers were not receiving information which could help clear their clients, including evidence that suspects had been "mistreated" in order to secure confessions. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7761315.stm>

By Max Deveson BBC News, Washington

Barack Obama's victory in the presidential election means that his Illinois senate seat now lies vacant.

His running mate Joe Biden's Delaware senate seat is also up for grabs.

And the announcement of his proposed cabinet choices leave a number of other senate and gubernatorial vacancies.

How these positions get filled differs from job to job and state to state.

In some cases, Democrats will even be automatically replaced with Republicans.

In others, the replacement will be appointed by just one powerful individual. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7761401.stm>

By Soutik Biswas BBC News, Mumbai

Security experts have criticised the response to the attacks, which left nearly 200 people dead, as "amateurish, sluggish and feeble".

Indian intelligence agencies are leaking information that they gave about half a dozen warnings to the government in Maharashtra state - of which Mumbai is the capital.

The reports say Maharashtra was warned that strikes were being planned on city landmarks, including, possibly, the Taj Mahal hotel at the historic Gateway of India.

Authorities in Mumbai flatly deny that they received any tip-offs. "It is unimaginable that we would have got this sensitive information and not react," says state Interior Secretary Chitkala Zutshi. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7760460.stm>

The 25 entry list contains errors that can lead to security holes or vulnerable areas that can be targeted by cyber criminals.

Experts say many of these errors are not well understood by programmers.

According to the SANS Institute in Maryland, just two of the errors led to more than 1.5m web site security breaches during 2008.

It is thought that this is the first time the industry has reached agreement on the worst things that can creep into software as it is being written.

More than 30 organisations, including the US National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, Microsoft, and Symantec published the document.

THE TOP 25 MOST DANGEROUS PROGRAMMING ERRORS CWE-20:Improper Input Validation CWE-116:Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output CWE-89:Failure to Preserve SQL Query Structure CWE-79:Failure to Preserve Web Page Structure CWE-78:Failure to Preserve OS Command Structure CWE-319:Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information CWE-352:Cross-Site Request Forgery CWE-362:Race Condition CWE-209:Error Message Information Leak CWE-119:Failure to Constrain Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer CWE-642:External Control of Critical State Data CWE-73:External Control of File Name or Path CWE-426:Untrusted Search Path CWE-94:Failure to Control Generation of Code CWE-494:Download of Code Without Integrity Check CWE-404:Improper Resource Shutdown or Release CWE-665:Improper Initialization CWE-682:Incorrect Calculation CWE-285:Improper Access Control CWE-327:Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm CWE-259:Hard-Coded Password CWE-732:Insecure Permission Assignment for Critical Resource CWE-330:Use of Insufficiently Random Values CWE-250:Execution with Unnecessary Privileges CWE-602:Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security Source: SANS Institute

"The top 25 list gives developers a minimum set of coding errors that must be eradicated before software is used by customers," said Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer with Veracode.

"There appears to be broad agreement on the programming errors," says SANS director, Mason Brown, "Now it is time to fix them."

"We need to make sure every programmer knows how to write code that is free of the top 25 errors."

"Then we need to make sure every programming team has processes in place to find and fix these problems [in existing code] and has the tools needed to verify their code is as free of these errors," he said.

Patrick Lincoln, director of the Computer Science Laboratory at SRI International, told the BBC that if programmers prevented these errors appearing in their code, it would deter the majority of hackers.

"This list is primarily for people who have first responsibility for designing a system. Veteran programmers have probably learnt the hard way whereas a brand new programmer will be making more basic errors."

"The real dedicated serial attacker will probably find a way in even if all these errors were removed. But a high school hacker with malicious intent - ankle-biters if you will - would be deterred from breaking in."

Previously, most advice has focused on vulnerabilities that can result from programming errors. The top 25 list examines the actual programming errors themselves. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7824939.stm>

By Tanya Syed BBC News

A UK researcher said he found evidence that the Persian Empire used poisonous gases on the Roman city of Dura, Eastern Syria, in the 3rd Century AD.

The theory is based on the discovery of remains of about 20 Roman soldiers found at the base of the city wall.

The findings were presented the Archaeological Institute of America's annual meeting.

The study shows that the Persians dug a mine underneath the wall in order to enter the city.

They also ignited bitumen and sulphur crystals to produce dense poisonous gases, suggested Simon James, an archaeologist at the University of Leicester.

The Roman assault party was unconscious in seconds, dead in minutes Dr Simon James, University of Leicester

He added that underground bellows or chimneys probably helped generate and distribute the deadly fumes.

The Romans apparently responded with counter-mines in an effort to thwart the siege.

"For the Persians to kill 20 men in a space less than 2m high or wide, and about 11m long, required superhuman combat powers - or something more insidious," said Dr James.

"The Roman assault party was unconscious in seconds, dead in minutes."

Excavations showed that the soldiers' bodies were stacked near the counter-mine entrance by the attackers to create a protective barricade before setting the tunnel on fire.

"It is clear from the archaeological evidence at Dura that the Sasanian Persians were as knowledgeable in siege warfare as the Romans," said Dr James.

By Lucy Ash BBC World Service

A Palestinian obstetrician who specialises in treating infertility, he lives in the Jabaliya camp in the Gaza Strip, but used to work part-time in Israel helping Jewish women to have babies.

He also had a clinic in Gaza, taught medical school students there and arranged for seriously ill Palestinian patients to be treated in Israel.

He put up with the tedious and sometimes humiliating border checks with dignity and patience.

He stayed calm when one of his own Palestinian medical students told him she was "very, very angry" that he was helping Israelis to have children.

"What if these babies grow up to become soldiers who kill our people?" asked the young woman.

My daughters and I were armed with nothing but love and hope Dr Izeldeen Abuelaish

Despite all the suspicion, the hatred and the barriers Dr Abuelaish continued his work.

In 2001, Dr Gad Potashnik was in charge of the IVF clinic at the Soroka University Hospital in Beersheba.

He described Dr Abuelaish as a "magical, secret bridge between Israelis and Palestinians".

But that "magical, secret bridge" is now close to breaking point.

I have stayed in touch with Dr Abuelaish over the years.

Since we met he has had a number of jobs and research posts abroad.

In September 2008 he was about to start working for the European Union in Africa but had to return home after he wife, Nadia, fell ill with leukaemia.

Israeli patients

She died soon after his return, leaving him a widower with eight children aged three to 20.

In the middle of the recent conflict, I interviewed Dr Abuelaish for the BBC World Service's Outlook programme.

He told me all the glass had been blown out of the windows of his house, he could hear firing and explosions all around and he was desperately worried for the safety of his children.

Then on Friday afternoon, just a day before the ceasefire was announced, his worst nightmare came true.

"My daughters were just sitting quietly talking in their bedroom at home," Dr Izeldeen Abuelaish told me on the phone between sobs.

"I had just left the room, carrying my youngest son on my shoulders. Then a shell came through the wall.

"Tell me why did they have to die? Who gave the order to fire on my house?"

In a voice cracked with emotion, he added: "You know me, Lucy. You have been to my house, my hospital; you have seen my Israeli patients.

"I have tried so hard to bring people on both sides together and just look what I get in return."

The victims were Bisan, aged 20, Mayar, 15, Aya aged 13 and the physician's 17-year-old niece Nur Abuelaish.

"My eldest daughter was five months away from finishing her degree in business and financial management. She was looking forward to the future and I was so proud of her."

I remember talking to Dr Abuelaish in his house as his children scurried around him asking questions and singing songs.

Bisan was a cheeky, bright-eyed girl, keen to show off her English and read aloud from her school text book. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7838465.stm>

By John Sudworth BBC World Service, Seoul

A new-model democracy where 90% of households are hooked up to a fast-flowing torrent of news, views, opinion and online debate.

And with it, it is argued, has come a new breed of opinion former.

To guide and sway public opinion, no longer is it necessary to be a fat cat media mogul.

A broadband connection is all you need.

Oracle

But as well as a computer keyboard, a voice loud enough, or interesting enough, to be heard above the electronic din is what really counts.

Minerva was that kind of voice.

Taking the Greek goddess of wisdom's name as his nom-de-plume, Minerva became a one-man oracle for these troubled economic times.

Or bloggacle perhaps.

In hundreds of internet postings over the past year the blogger has spent his days pounding the keys, pouring forth his opinions on where he felt the South Korean economy was heading.

"Downwards" and "fast" would probably be two of the best words to sum up his view.

But what appears to have really catapulted him to fame were a number of specific predictions.

A week before the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers, there was the uncanny prophet, predicting exactly that.

And as the government fought to shore up the value of the Korean currency, there was Minerva accurately predicting its subsequent, dramatic slide.

Public interest

At the height of his blogging bonanza, Minerva was pulling in more than 100,000 online viewers for each of his postings.

But the government had him in their sights.

It argued that much of what he wrote was misleading or wrong.

The final straw came with his report that the authorities had ordered big business to stop buying dollars, an allegation the government denies.

But such was Minerva's following that his statements were themselves affecting the money markets.

He was traced and arrested under a rarely used law; the offence of spreading false information with the intent of harming the public interest.

Self taught

Before his arrest, Minerva's popularity had led to intense public debate about his background.

A retired economics professor with time on his hands, perhaps?

A still employed market trader with intimate experience of Wall Street and a number of other financial exchanges around the globe, went another theory.

His public unveiling, before his first court appearance, turned out to be somewhat of a surprise.

The ranks of waiting reporters and newspaper snappers found themselves face to face with a 31-year-old unemployed man called Park Dae-sung, who never went to university and who garnered his financial know-how by surfing the web and reading mail order economics text books. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7839375.stm>

We want our allies to rethink their military operations... We want change in military operations President Hamid Karzai Karzai says he 'must do better' Karzai urges Afghan war timeline

Addressing parliament, Mr Karzai once again urged US-led and Nato troops to do more to reduce civilian casualties.

He also called for a rethink in the way billions of dollars in aid are spent and accused his allies of not doing enough to curb the illegal drugs trade.

On Sunday Nato's head complained of corrupt government in Afghanistan.

Mr Karzai, who is due to face a presidential election this year, told the opening session of parliament that the fight against militants could not be won without popular support from Afghans.

The president has often complained to Western powers over civilian casualties in recent years.

"We don't accept civilian casualties in our land in the war on terrorism," President Karzai told about 300 parliamentarians and guests, including UN representatives, foreign embassy officials and foreign military forces.

"We have never complained about our police being martyred - thousands of our police have been martyred. We have never complained about the deaths of our soldiers - hundreds have died," he said.

"If thousands are killed in the war on terrorism... we will accept that. But we don't and will never accept civilian casualties in our land," he said, to chants of "Allah Akbar" (God is great) from MPs expressing approval.

"We want change in military operations, we want effectiveness in the 'war on terror'." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7839953.stm>

By Marie Jackson BBC News

Dressed in overalls, white protective gloves and a balaclava, 21-year-old naval cook Dougie Hern was ordered to sit on the beach, back to the bomb, his knees pulled up, eyes closed and hands over his face. A countdown began...three, two, one.

"We saw a bright, brilliant light," he recalls. "It was as if someone had switched a firebar on in your head. It grew brighter and you could see the bones in your hands, like pink X-rays, in front of your closed eyes."

Seconds later, they were ordered to stand and turn towards the blast.

People were knocked off their feet, palm trees shook, birds were blinded and glass shattered as a mushroom cloud rose from the horizon, parting the clouds.

Moments later, the servicemen were told to stand down and resume their duties.

We knew what had happened in Japan - I thought it could not happen here, they would not do it to us Douglas Hern, former navy cook drafted to Christmas Island

It was all over in about 14 seconds, but Mr Hern, now 72, believes radiation exposure on that day and four others is behind his diabetes, the spurs growing on his sternum, and much worse, the death of his 13-year-old daughter from cancer.

For decades, British ex-servicemen who were stationed on Christmas Island in the South Pacific in the 1950s have been embroiled in legal battles, trying to win recognition for their work and compensation for poor health they say is the result of the nuclear tests. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7840594.stm>

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the situation could not return to how it was before Israel's 22-day offensive in Gaza, which ended last Sunday.

But media reports say that some of the tunnels are already back in operation, with fuel being smuggled in.

Diplomats are continuing talks in Egypt aimed at finding a lasting truce.

Destroying the network of tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was one of Israel's main aims when its offensive began in late December. The Israeli military claims to have destroyed 150 tunnels during its Gaza assault.

The Israelis say the tunnels are used to smuggle weapons in to militants from Hamas, but the Palestinians argue that Israel's tight control of their borders means the tunnels are the only way they can get enough fuel and basic goods to survive. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7844497.stm>

By Emily Hughes BBC Money Programme

But car manufacturing isn't the only thing the company is good at.

Last year it made six times as much on the stock market as it did making cars.

Industry insiders are only half joking when they call it a hedge fund with a carmaker attached.

Porsche says its stock market trades are only for one reason: to take it towards its long term goal, the takeover of car making giant, Volkswagen.

In October 2008, Porsche's takeover moves triggered an unprecedented stock market squeeze when it suddenly revealed it owned or had positions on more than 74% of Volkswagen shares.

The value of Volkswagen stock rocketed to more than 1,000 euros, briefly making it the most valuable company in the world.

Hedge funds, who had gambled that the value of Volkswagen shares would fall are said to have lost between 10bn and 40bn euros.

Porsche denies any wrongdoing and says that it made no profit from the squeeze, but some hedge funds are crying foul.

Now the German financial regulator, BaFin, is conducting an investigation into what it calls "suspected market abuse." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7843262.stm>

Recep Tayyip Erdogan clashed with Shimon Peres, whose voice had risen as he made an impassioned defence of Israel's actions, jabbing his finger.

Mr Erdogan said Mr Peres had spoken so loudly to conceal his "guilt".

He accused the moderator of not allowing him to speak and said he did not think he would return to Davos.

The Turkish PM stressed later that he had left the debate not because of his disagreements with Mr Peres but because he had been given much less time to speak than the Israeli leader.

Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries to have dealings with Israel, but relations have been under strain since the Islamist-rooted AK Party was elected to power in 2002.

Late on Thursday, a WEF official said that Mr Peres and Mr Erdogan had spoken by mobile telephone, and both men now considered the matter closed. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/davos/7859417.stm>

The unveiling of the sculpture took place on Thursday Enlarge Image

Foreign media say the bronze-coloured fibre-glass shoe was removed from its site in the city of Tikrit on the orders of the local authorities.

It had been erected in the grounds of an orphanage.

The monument was reportedly taken down just a day after being unveiled in the late Saddam Hussein's home town.

The head of the Childhood organisation, which owns the orphanage, said she had been told to remove the monument immediately by the Salaheddin Provincial Joint Coordination Centre.

"I did take the shoe down immediately and destroyed it, and I did not ask why," Shahah Daham told the German news agency DPA.

Salaheddin's deputy governor, Abdullah Jabara, told DPA: "Children should be put away from any political-related issues. Since this is an orphanage, this monument can instil in children's heart things for which the time is not now."

Mr Jabara was also quoted by CNN as saying: "We will not allow anyone to use the government facilities and buildings for political motives." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7862180.stm>

Nato officials say such a treaty would weaken the alliance and reward Russian "aggression". William Horsley, a writer on European affairs, examines what is at stake.

Top Nato officials and diplomats met this month at the Wilton Park conference centre near England's south coast to discuss how to resolve doubts and divisions about the alliance's future before its 60th anniversary summit in April.

Nato's problems in Afghanistan topped the formal agenda. But the loudest alarm was sounded about the danger of a long-term confrontation with Russia.

Some journalists were invited in on condition that speakers would not be named without their consent. The depth of their concern is clear from statements like these:

"Russia's action in Georgia was no aberration. It may have become the norm."

"Russia must not have a veto on which countries can join Nato. If we concede that we're finished."

"Russia is aggressively trying to establish its sphere of influence and to rewrite the rules based on Russian national interest, not on international rules." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7861248.stm>

By Bethany Bell BBC News, Jerusalem

Numbers can be used for propaganda purposes by all sides and they can play a role in determining perceptions of whether the sides have kept within international law's rules of keeping civilian casualties to a minimum.

In the Israeli offensive on Gaza, far more Palestinians, including women and children, were killed than Israelis. But the exact figures have been disputed.

During the fighting, the main source for the number of Palestinian casualties came from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

It said 1,314 Palestinians were killed in the conflict, 412 of them children.

These numbers are being used by international organisations, like the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

However, with very few international workers and journalists allowed in Gaza during much of the conflict, it has been difficult to verify the figures independently. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7855070.stm>

Tighter surveillance of the tunnels is one of Israel's key conditions for maintaining the ceasefire that ended its three-week offensive against Hamas.

The tunnels were used to smuggle food and medicine, as well as arms.

Israel bombed them, but when the fighting stopped some were still usable and others have been repaired.

Egyptian security sources said the authorities had begun installing the equipment in the last few days along the 14km (8-mile) border with the help of American, French and German expertise.

Reuters news agency quoted the sources as saying they hoped the equipment would detect any new tunnel-building activity in the area.

The United States has pledged $32m in detention equipment and army engineers are providing technical assistance on the ground, AFP news agency said.

The tunnels were one of Israel's main targets during its offensive.

Hamas and many Palestinians say the tunnels are a vital source of basic necessities so long as Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt remain blocked. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7862919.stm>

By Paul Henley BBC News, Toulouse

"We are the ones who are going to break the rules and the control of the old system. We are the new alternative".

Across Europe, victims of the economic slump who are losing their jobs in their tens of thousands are furious that public money is being doled out to the banks.

In some countries, they are more willing to vent their anger.

As huge crowds took to the streets across France this week, in a national day of protests and strikes, the far left points to a boost in the number of its supporters in times of financial gloom.

The French communist movement has remained a significant political force even in the decades when their cause was less than fashionable abroad.

We are seeing a radicalisation... Inequality is growing in Europe and inequality is always the cause of revolt Stephane Borras Protest organiser

Now, France's communists believe they are staring at the proof that capitalism has failed, once and for all. And they see an opportunity.

Marine and her fellow party-member, Hugo, who is 18, do not envisage a violent revolution.

"There is no need for guns or bullets," says Hugo, "just a realisation that the situation is not fair, that all the state's money is being spent on the people who need it the least."

Stephane Borras, who is one of the group's organisers and a candidate to lead a new party that is being formed under the banner of anti-capitalism, says attitudes are changing.

"We are seeing a radicalisation, perhaps the beginning of a very big movement. I am not a clairvoyant, but I live in France, I have a lot of contacts with a wide range of people and it's not just leftists, not just militants who cannot accept the injustice. Inequality is growing in Europe and inequality is always the cause of revolt". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7861774.stm>

By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Rome

More than 100 people, including police officers, are being investigated as part of the fraud.

The T-Redspeed system - a revolutionary camera technology - has been in use for two years in 300 areas across Italy.

Cameras linked to traffic lights capture 3-d images of vehicles if they jump the lights or are speeding.

It can also detect offences like illegal u-turns.

Fraudulent fines

It is believed more than a million drivers have been trapped by the system.

But it is now claimed the lights were rigged to change from yellow to red in three seconds instead of the regulation five or six seconds.

The fraud was uncovered by a senior police officer who noticed an unusually high number of fines being issued.

Instead of an average 15 fines a day in some places, the figure jumped to more than 1,000.

The fraud may have netted as much as $170m (£116.4m) for those involved.

The scheme's inventor is now under house arrest, though his lawyers say he is innocent.

More than 100 other people including 63 police commanders are also being investigated as part of the scam. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7862893.stm>

By Heather Sharp BBC News, Jerusalem

Initial Palestinian estimates said rebuilding would cost $2bn (£1.4bn) and take three to five years, even without the host of obstacles Gaza faces.

International agencies are still assessing the scale of the destruction in preparation for a drive for reconstruction pledges.

But with the international community refusing to deal directly with Hamas, the militant group which controls Gaza, it remains unclear how the money could be spent.

Israel is determined that Hamas should in no way benefit from international aid funds. It also controls everything entering the Gaza Strip.

It is demanding strict controls on building materials - urgently needed before the fighting and now required in vast quantities - which it says could be used to build rockets and launching sites.

Waiting to see

Then there is the long-standing feud between Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) - both battling for popularity among Palestinians and vying for international recognition.

Hamas spokesmen say they are the legitimate authority in Gaza and the PA is corrupt and cannot be trusted with reconstruction money.

What may happen is that ordinary people will suffer - we're witnessing the political interests of the parties taking precedence George Giacaman Political analyst Aid worker diary: Part 22 Counting casualties of Gaza's war Gaza: Humanitarian situation

But as Hamas has purged PA figures from many of Gaza's institutions, it remains unclear what the PA could achieve on the ground.

Along with Israel, the US and EU regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

The Middle East Quartet, which brings the US and EU together with the UN and Russia, refuses to talk to Hamas unless it renounces violence and recognises Israel's right to exist.

But UN agencies do co-ordinate with Hamas, which won elections in 2006 and consolidated its control in Gaza by force a year later. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7856011.stm>

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the launch had been successful and that with it Iran had "officially achieved a presence in space".

The satellite, carried on a Safir-2 rocket, was meant for telecommunication and research purposes, state TV said.

France has expressed concern, saying the technology used was "very similar" to that used in ballistic missiles. Iran insists its intent is peaceful.

Iran is subject to UN sanctions as some Western powers think it is trying to build a nuclear bomb.

Tehran denies that claim and says its nuclear ambitions are limited to the production of energy.

Officials from six world powers - the US, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany - are due to meet in Germany on Wednesday to discuss the nuclear stand-off. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7866357.stm>

By Aleem Maqbool BBC News, Gaza City

He was lucky to survive an Israeli air strike. But, like so many others in Gaza, his life was transformed in an instant.

He lost his right leg in the explosion. The left side of his body is paralysed.

"I had just left the mosque near my home and was going home after prayers," he says, with a little difficulty.

"They dropped a bomb on the mosque and I was thrown in the air, but I don't remember what happened after that.

"My family told me 15 people were killed and 20 people injured, including me."

Yahya says he used to go to university and wanted to be a teacher one day.

"Now I will have a life of hospitals. I know I will just need medical care forever."

As we left the room, we found Yahya's elder brother outside, wiping away tears. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7866159.stm>

It said another 10 people were injured when shells hit a ward on Monday in the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu town in Mullaitivu district.

Aid workers say nine died in three strikes on the hospital at the weekend.

The government says it is not responsible for the attacks and has told civilians to leave the war zone.

'Decisive stage'

Puthukkudiyiruppu is situated in an enclave held by the rebels and is home to tens of thousands of civilians. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7866342.stm>