Policing the World-10

Nato's cyber defence warriors

By Frank Gardner Security correspondent, BBC News

Nato officials have told the BBC their computers are under constant attack from organisations and individuals bent on trying to hack into their secrets.

The attacks keep coming despite the establishment of a co-ordinated cyber defence policy with a quick-reaction cyber team on permanent standby.

The cyber defence policy was set up after a wave of cyber attacks on Nato member Estonia in 2007, and more recent attacks on Georgia - so what are they defending against and how do they do it? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7861891.stm>

Tory MP demands torture statement

David Davis said a High Court ruling on Wednesday alleged a British resident held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba had been tortured.

The ruling suggested the US threatened to withdraw intelligence help from the UK if details were released, Mr Davis claimed in the House of Commons.

The BBC's Nick Robinson said the claims were "extraordinarily serious". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7870049.stm>

The Iraqi provincial elections on Saturday marked the start of a year of polls that could bring big changes, for better or worse. Israel votes on 10 February, while India, the world's biggest democratic country, votes in spring, followed quickly by Iran and Afghanistan.

Click below to find out what hangs on nine key elections in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

Iraq Israel South Africa Indonesia India

Iran Afghanistan Japan Germany

Lucy Ash reports from Kansas for BBC Radio 4's Law in Action. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7847074.stm>

Detained in January by Iraqi security forces, the mother of six is accused of converting dozens of vulnerable women into suicide attackers.

In an apparent video confession, the middle-aged woman described how she identified potential bombers, helped supply them with explosives and led them to their targets.

She also explained, in a separate interview with the Associated Press, how insurgents used rape as a tool, with the "shamed" women persuaded to redeem themselves through suicide attacks.

Her apparent confession could help throw light on the recent increase in attacks in Iraq involving female bombers.

In 2007, there were eight suicide attacks by women; in 2008 there were 32, the US military says. In early January, a female bomber killed at least 35 Shia pilgrims in a blast near a Baghdad shrine.

Insurgents use female bombers because they can hide explosives under their robes and are less likely to be searched by male guards at security checkpoints. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7869570.stm>

Thinking about children and crime

• Mark Easton
• 4 Feb 09, 15:07 GMT

Standing next to a teenager who is holding a large kitchen knife, and knowing that she had previously stabbed her sister, is as good a place as any to consider Britain's relationship with children who commit crime.

I was in Finland, a country travelling down a very different philosophical road from Britain. While the UK locks up around three thousand juvenile offenders, Finland's criminal justice system incarcerates just three. And the girl with the kitchen knife is not one of them.

"We do not think the proper way to take care of a child is by punishing the child", says Kurt Kylloinen, director of the 'reform school' I was visiting outside Helsinki.

Set in thick woodland, the institution was once a girl's boarding school and its rules, even now, have changed little. The girl with the knife was cutting onions in a cookery class.

The youngsters cannot wander off but there are no keys, no bars, no guards. If they do disappear, they will be brought back again.

"You must believe in childhood and not let the child's misbehaviour deceive you", Kurt tells me. "You must believe in the child and that's what we try to do in Finland, whatever the child does."

The age of criminal responsibility in Finland is 15, although in practice very few youngsters under the age of 21 are dealt with by criminal justice system. Children who break the law are seen primarily as welfare cases.

Over 60% of children locked up by the state in the UK are known to have mental health problems. In Finland such youngsters are more likely to be patients in well-funded psychiatric units.

When I explained that in England and Wales children as young as 10 are dealt with under the penal code - and in Scotland as young as eight - the reform school's psychologist Merja Ikalainen looked aghast.

MI: I don't have words for that. It sounds so horrible.

ME: You think it's immoral?

MI: It is.

ME: Why? If a young person knowingly commits a crime?

MI: That's not a young person. That's a child. They need care.

ME: But shouldn't a child have to suffer the consequences of their actions?

MI: Suffer! You use words that sound really horrible. A child shouldn't be suffering. The word suffer sounds really sad. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/>

By Heather Sharp BBC News, Nazareth

"Nobody agreed to this massacre," says gently-spoken restauranteur Dokhol Safadi, 41, who swears by a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and condemns rocket fire against southern Israel.

Until 27 December, Jewish customers came from "all over Israel" to sample his chefs' renowned Arab cuisine.

But most of them stopped visiting as the fighting in Gaza put relations between the Arab fifth of Israel's population and the Jewish majority under severe strain.

And now projected gains for the far-right party Yisrael Beiteinu ahead of 10 February elections are ratcheting up tensions further.

It's not sympathy for Hamas, it's about who's being killed - if you say someone's killing, but you're also killing - then who's the killer? Ahab Issa Snack bar manager

The party, popular with immigrants from former-Soviet countries, calls for the transfer of Israeli-Arab areas to the control of the Palestinian Authority, and a citizenship law demanding all citizens pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state.

The party's leader, Avigdor Lieberman was a key player in a vitriolic war of words with Israeli-Arab politicians who protested against the Israeli operation in Gaza.

Israeli-Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi accused the government of genocide and said every vote for outgoing PM Ehud Olmert's Kadima party was "a bullet in the chest of a Palestinian child", according to Israeli media reports.

In return, Mr Lieberman called him a terrorist and said some Arab MKs should be dealt with as Israel dealt with Hamas. The right-wing leader also pushed for a ban on the participation of two Israeli-Arab parties in the polls - which was later overturned by the Supreme Court. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7870743.stm>

By Matt Frei BBC News, Washington

In the frozen air of Washington, the inscriptions on the Jefferson or Lincoln memorials for once found expression in the grinning faces that had crammed into the Mall, the words that seeped from the loudspeakers and the very identity of the man at the centre of it all.

It was also a reminder of how often that promise had failed to live up to itself.

The African-American men who flocked to hear their new president sworn in were still proportionally more likely to end up in jail than the white men they were standing amongst.

Nearly three-quarters of all African-American children are born to single mothers.

"The poor go to jail, the rich get bail", is a common refrain - but it is borne out by the facts.

Fresh influx

The gulf between precept and practice, between rhetoric and reality has been so glaring in this country partly because the founding mission was so noble and its appeal so enduring.

Americas has been saved from its own hypocrisy by two things.

The first is the immigrant nature of society. The resentment between the haves and have-nots has always been diluted by the fresh influx of eager blood. Every new immigrant wading across the Rio Grande refreshes the aspirational nature of this society.

The second reason is geographical space. (I apologise but this is an obsession of mine). America is vast enough for its various competing tribes to live in relative oblivion of each other. Resentment is a fungus that luxuriates in more cramped quarters.

But the most important reason why the spirit of revolution or insurrection in this country has been tempered or confined to marble inscriptions is that it has helped to create results.

For the first time in its history, this country is living through a middle-class insurrection, spawned by resentment, facilitated by the click of a mouse and fuelled by red-eyed anger

The majority of America has been middle class, prosperous and comfortable.

For them, the American dream was not a feverish fitful affair but an afternoon nap, swaddled in throw cushions on a daybed.

The nap ended abruptly on 13 September: the day Lehman Brothers collapsed, the throw cushions were torn and the bed collapsed.

For the first time in its history, this country is living through a middle-class insurrection, spawned by resentment, facilitated by the click of a mouse and fuelled by red-eyed anger.

This insurrection helped to elect President Obama, banish the Bushes and clip the Clintons.

Last year saw an electorate vexed by the sense of entitlement of political dynasties new and old.

In more polite and deferential days, Caroline Kennedy might have sailed into the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.

But sinecures are now so yesterday. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7871045.stm>

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the killings of a human rights lawyer and a journalist in Moscow recently caused the EU concern.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin then angrily accused the EU of human rights abuses within its own territory.

He said "the full range of problems" concerning rights had to be discussed.

The murder of prominent Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and newspaper reporter Anastasiya Baburova in broad daylight in Moscow last month drew international condemnation.

We need to discuss the full range of problems - both in Russia and in Europe - in order to be able to solve them Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Murder of lawyer shocks Russians

Russia's plan to build military bases in two breakaway regions of Georgia also raised tensions during the discussions, correspondents say.

On Thursday, the Czech Republic, holder of the EU presidency, said it was "seriously concerned" by the moves in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, over which Russia and Georgia went to war last August.

"The EU would consider the implementation of such plans to be a serious violation of the principle of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said.  <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7874110.stm>

Israeli forces beat and kicked some those on board, said an al-Jazeera reporter who was on the ship when it was stopped on Thursday.

Israel denied claims its gunboats had fired on the ship, the latest to try to break the blockade on Gaza.

Israel allowed blood products from the vessel to enter Gaza by road on Friday.

The Israeli military said no weapons had been found on the ship.

Earlier it had said the ship could be a security threat or be used for smuggling banned equipment.

Fifteen people - Syrian and Lebanese nationals - had been transferred to Lebanon and Syria, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told the Associated Press news agency.

Another three, two Indians and one Briton, were in police custody pending deportation, he said.

The former Greek-Catholic archbishop of Jerusalem, 84-year-old Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, was among those sent to Syria, reports said.

The former archbishop had served time in an Israeli jail in the 1970s for his membership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

"The Israeli army confiscated all our videotapes; we were separated from each other, we were blindfolded and handcuffed," al-Jazeera reporter Salam Khader said on the Arab satellite television channel.

"They beat some of us... the soldiers kicked Dr Hani Suleiman [one of the co-ordinators of the ship's mission], in the chest and back." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7874020.stm>

Hamid Karzai has become increasingly vociferous in his criticism of American military tactics and has been making half-hearted threats to shift his allegiance to Moscow if he does not get his way.

Washington has yet to publically declare its hand but a series of well-placed leaks, briefs and snubs have raised the prospect that it could move its support elsewhere in this year's presidential election.

One Afghan newspaper spoke of "a new cold war".

A senior Afghan government official says the new Obama administration has insulted President Karzai and one prominent MP accuses America of "running a shadow-government".

'Narco-state'

The decline in relations began with a visit last year by Joe Biden, now the vice-president, to Kabul.

At the time, as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, he attended a private meeting with Mr Karzai.

A well-placed source describes Mr Biden, exasperated at not getting "straight answers" on drugs and corruption, launching into a verbal tirade and storming out of the meeting.

In a country where honour and decorum are second only to God and country, this was less than tactful.

On the campaign trail and more recently in confirmation hearings, senior members of President Barack Obama's team have questioned the effectiveness and honesty of Hamid Karzai's government.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's written statement to Congress during her confirmation hearing called Afghanistan a "narco-state" that was "plagued by limited capacity and widespread corruption".

She may have been wise enough not to use the phrase in her public testimony but by the time it was reported on the front page of the newspapers in Kabul, it did not really make much difference. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7870340.stm>

CCTV cameras and the DNA database were two examples of threats to privacy, the Lords constitution committee said.

It called for compensation for people subject to illegal surveillance.

The government said CCTV and DNA were "essential" to fight crime but campaign group Liberty said abuses of power mean "even the innocent have a lot to fear".

'Orwellian'

Civil liberties campaigners have warned about the risks of a "surveillance society" in which the state acquires ever-greater powers to track people's movements and retain personal data.

Controversial government plans for a database to store details of people's phone calls and e-mails were put on hold late last year after they were branded "Orwellian".

There can be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep towards every detail about us being recorded and pored over by the state Lord Goodlad

Ministers are consulting on the plan, which would involve the details but not the content of calls and internet traffic being logged, saying it is essential to fighting terrorism.

In its report, the Lords constitution committee said growth in surveillance by both the state and the private sector risked threatening people's right to privacy, which it said was "an essential pre-requisite to the exercise of individual freedom".

People were often unaware of the scale of personal information held and exchanged by public bodies, it said.

"There can be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep towards every detail about us being recorded and pored over by the state," committee chairman and Tory peer Lord Goodlad said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7872425.stm>

By Jim Muir BBC News, Baghdad

Considering the situation just two years ago, when the country seemed firmly bent on plunging ever deeper into a nightmare of sectarian carnage and fragmentation, they were an astonishing achievement bearing many messages and huge implications.

On the security level alone, the polling passed off more peacefully than even the most optimistic had dared hope.

Voting took place in 14 of the country's 18 provinces, including all those that were the scenes of the worst violence of the past nearly six years. Only the three largely peaceful Kurdish provinces and disputed Kirkuk did not take part.

Yet the polling passed off with virtually no security incidents of any significance.

There was a huge security operation by Iraqi forces, but that was hardly a deterrent in itself, since those very forces themselves have very often been the targets of insurgent attacks.

There were no such attacks, failed, foiled or successful, on the day.

That could reflect the fact that, unlike the previous round of provincial and then parliamentary elections in 2005, this one involved full-hearted participation by the Sunni community.

Its disgruntlement and alienation had earlier inspired electoral boycotts and provided the sea in which the insurgents swam.

The security success of this election operation had clear implications for the prospects for further troop reductions by US and other coalition forces - though US commanders continue to warn that the situation may still not be irreversible, and that over-rapid draw-downs could be destabilising. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7877203.stm>

Computerised records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the UK each year will be kept for up to 10 years.

The government says the database is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism.

But opposition MPs and privacy campaigners fear it is a significant step towards a surveillance society.

The intelligence centre will store names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details of travellers. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7877182.stm>

During his weekly TV address, Rafael Correa said US customs attache Armando Astorga was "insolent and foolish" and had treated Ecuador like a colony.

The US embassy denied that Mr Astorga was responsible for any policy change and said he had already left Ecuador.

Analysts say Mr Correa has generally enjoyed decent relations with the US.

But he launched a vitriolic attack during his weekly TV programme, accusing Mr Astorga of trying to make some economic aid conditional on Washington being allowed to choose the head of Ecuador's anti-narcotics police. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7877229.stm>

Richard Holbrooke told a conference in Munich: "I have never seen anything like the mess we have inherited."

Nato defence ministers at the security conference differed on whether the focus should be military or civilian.

The architect of the US surge in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, urged measures for Afghanistan similar to those in Iraq.

He warned Afghanistan was likely to get harder before things improved and called for a future change in tactics.

Gen Petraeus, the top US commander in the region, was clearly borrowing on lessons learned from Iraq, the BBC's Rob Watson reports from the security conference.

In future US forces would live and work more closely with ordinary Afghans. More effort would be made to promote local reconciliation and good government, the general added.

Two US soldiers were killed along with an Afghan interpreter and a policeman when a bomb they were trying to disarm exploded in Helmand Province on Sunday.

'Long struggle'

The Obama administration is stressing that it is still reviewing its Afghan policy.

It is like no other problem we have confronted Richard Holbrooke US envoy to Afghanistan

But Ambassador Holbrooke told the conference that Washington would be working under the principle that Pakistan and others in the region would have to be part of the solution to Afghanistan's problems.

"What is required in my view is new ideas, better coordination within the US government, better coordination with our Nato allies and other concerned countries, and the time to get it right," he said.

The envoy, who is to embark on a tour of the region soon, also said: "It is like no other problem we have confronted, and in my view it's going to be much tougher than Iraq.

"It is going to be a long, difficult struggle." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7877505.stm>

Pimentel: Senate should respect Mike Arroyo's refusal to attend hearing

PNP ready to quell possible 'riots' which may arise from economic downtrend

The archaeologist, Ludwig Borchhardt, listed the bust of Queen Nefertiti among his finds in Egypt in 1913.

But he described it as a worthless piece of gypsum and hid it in a box.

It is now regarded as a supreme artefact of the Pharaonic era and attracts half a million visitors per year to Berlin's Egyptian Museum.

'Indescribable'

The BBC correspondent in Cairo, Christian Fraser, says the document that has ignited this latest row was discovered in the German Oriental Institute.

It is the account of a meeting between Ludwig Borchardt and an inspector of antiquities to discuss an inventory of the archaeologist's discoveries.

There was an agreement for Germany and Egypt to divide the spoils equally.

But the bust of Queen Nefertiti - who reigned as wife of the Sun King Akhenaten more than 3,000 years ago - was so exquisite that Mr Borchardt determined to keep it "for Germany", the account says.

The queen was tightly wrapped, placed in a box in a poorly-lit chamber and kept hidden. The photograph of her that Mr Borchardt handed over was deliberately unflattering.

He described Nefertiti as being made of gypsum, which is almost worthless, whereas in fact her regal features were painted on limestone.

The notes from Mr Borchardt's diary reveal that he knew the sculpture's real value.

"It is indescribable," he said. "You have to see it with your own eyes."

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities confirmed it had been made aware of the document.

The evidence of this deception could well strengthen Cairo's bid to retrieve their ancient queen, our correspondent says. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7883102.stm>

Mr Tsvangirai won the first round of last year's presidential election - but he withdrew from the run-off, citing violence against his supporters.

However he later agreed to share power with Mr Mugabe.

Problems facing the new government include a cholera epidemic, a collapsed economy and a 90% unemployment rate.

Mr Mugabe administered the oath of office to Mr Tsvangirai at a ceremony in Harare. 

There were smiles and handshakes as the two bitter political rivals stood face-to-face under a white tent on the grounds of Mr Mugabe's presidential palace.

"I will well and truly serve Zimbabwe in the office of prime minister of the republic of Zimbabwe, so help me God," Mr Tsvangirai said with his right arm raised in a brief ceremony that was broadcast live on television.

Two deputy prime ministers were also sworn in: Thokozani Khupe, the deputy leader of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a break-away faction of the MDC.

Deep scepticism

The new prime minister must deal with an economy in ruins and a cholera epidemic which has killed more than 3,400 people.

Hyperinflation is causing prices to double every day and the country stopped publishing inflation figures after it was last estimated at 231m%. People are using foreign currency wherever possible.

STATE OF ZIMBABWE Five million people - almost half population - need food aid Hyperinflation Unemployment of 90% About 3,400 people killed in cholera outbreak Tsvangirai's tough choice Send us your comments

More than half the population rely on emergency food aid.

The cabinet in the new coalition government will be sworn in on Friday.

There is deep scepticism about whether it will work, says the BBC's southern Africa correspondent, Peter Biles, in Johannesburg.

At best it will be a transitional arrangement leading eventually to a new constitution and fresh elections, he says. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7882762.stm>

Miriam lambasts US govt over WB refusal to release report

The primary teachers were caned by a police officer after an inquiry into poor exam results at three schools.

The report blamed teachers for being late or not showing up for work and not teaching the official syllabus.

The deputy education minister has condemned the caning but asked the teachers not to take action until the case has been investigated.

The union is thinking of taking action against District Commissioner (DC) Albert Mnali, who ordered the caning in the northern region of Bukoba.

The BBC's Vicky Ntetema in Dar es Salaam says the case comes at a time when parents and human rights groups in Tanzania have been calling for a ban on flogging of schoolchildren throughout the country.

Deputy Education Minister Mwantumu Bakari Mahiza told the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation that the DC's action was "abnormal".

She said the DC and the police commissioner should "have their heads examined" and called for a commission to investigate the case. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7888158.stm>

By Jonathan Beale BBC News, Washington

The president came to power with a powerful promise of change and a pledge to end the old politics while ushering in a new era of political integrity.

There was to be political and racial diversity too, but it has not quite worked out as planned.

Nominees have already fallen like flies. Out has gone his first choice of commerce secretary, the New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who is facing an investigation into his links with big business. The president's pick for health secretary, Tom Daschle, has had to pull out too after failing to keep up with his taxes.

The same problem befell Nancy Killefer, earmarked for the job of chief government performance officer. The president wanted Tim Geithner for treasury secretary, and did get his man despite having found another who has been embarrassed by tax issues. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7887618.stm>

The BBC's Richard Galpin has been speaking to experts and veterans, who remember the withdrawal after 10 years of occupation as a traumatic and humiliating experience.

Lt Gen Ruslan Aushev, a Hero of the Soviet Union, sports a moustache that hangs over his mouth like a heavy velvet curtain.

But from the dark morass emerge words of precision and directness that befit a much-decorated commander of the Soviet military venture in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

"We were there for 10 years and we lost more than 14,000 soldiers, but what was the result? Nothing," he tells me as we sit in his office on one of central Moscow's most fashionable streets.

We wanted to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, but in fact everything got worse Lt Gen (retd) Ruslan Aushev Former Soviet commander

"[After the Soviet withdrawal] there was a second civil war and then the Taleban appeared. We wanted to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, but in fact everything got worse," he adds.

Such frank admissions of failure are common amongst the Russian veterans who are attending a series of commemorative events this weekend, exactly 20 years after the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan.

Experts say the Soviet government under Leonid Brezhnev had assumed their invasion in December 1979 would bring rapid results, stabilising the fledgling communist government in Kabul and thus ensuring the loyalty of an important neighbouring country at the height of the Cold War.

But instead of being able to leave within six months, the Soviet forces became bogged down in a protracted conflict with a tough and well-armed guerrilla force which received massive assistance from the West and the Muslim world.

Some of the Mujahideen, as the loosely-aligned groups of rebels became known, were radical Islamists for whom the fight against the godless communists was a jihad.

And crucially, the rebels enjoyed the support of the population. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7888566.stm>

By Natalia Antelava BBC News, Beirut

The US secretary of state was ringing to assure him that the new American administration would do everything in its power to bring to justice those who killed his father, Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Last week, seated next to his father's photograph in his spacious brand new mansion in the historic heart of Beirut, Rafik Hariri's political heir said he knew who was behind the killing.

Saad Hariri has never made a secret of his belief that the masterminds of the car bomb that hit his father's convoy on 14 February 2005, killing 22 people, were hiding in the top echelons of the Syrian government.

In fact his entire political career has been built on this accusation, which Damascus has always denied.

'Here to stay'

In its early stages, the UN investigation into the killing, led back then by German judge Detlev Mehlis, also implicated top-level Syrian security officials, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law.

But Mr Mehlis' successor in the probe, Daniel Bellmare of Canada, who will now preside over the tribunal, has been much less outspoken and it is not clear whether the tribunal will have enough evidence to prove this link.

According to Paul Salem, the director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre, the West has also changed its attitude towards Syria.

"In the beginning the UN investigation was clearly geared towards regime change in Syria, and now this is no longer the case," he said.

"I think now, both in Europe and in the United States, there is a realisation that the Syrian government is here to stay."

Unlike their predecessors, first President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and now US President Barack Obama have made it clear that they want to engage with Damascus. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7889806.stm>

Professor Chris Field, an author of a 2007 landmark report on climate change, said future temperatures "will be beyond anything" predicted.

Prof Field said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had underestimated the rate of change.

He said warming is likely to cause more environmental damage than forecast.

Speaking at the American Science conference in Chicago, Prof Field said fresh data showed greenhouse gas emissions between 2000 and 2007 increased far more rapidly than expected.

"We are basically looking now at a future climate that is beyond anything that we've considered seriously in climate policy," he said.

Prof Field said the 2007 report, which predicted temperature rises between 1.1C and 6.4C over the next century, seriously underestimated the scale of the problem.

He said the increases in carbon dioxide have been caused, principally, by the burning of coal for electric power in India and China.

Wildfires

Prof Field said the impact on temperatures is as yet unknown, but warming is likely to accelerate at a much faster pace and cause more environmental damage than had been predicted.

The BBC's science reporter Matt McGrath says the most recent data is also worrying because it threatens to kick-start what climate scientists call negative feedback effects.

Prof Field says that a warming planet will dry out forests in tropical areas making them much more likely to suffer from wildfires.

The rising temperatures could also speed up the melting of the permafrost, vastly increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7890988.stm>

Security forces reportedly used tear gas, truncheons and water cannons to disperse hundreds of people in the south-eastern city of Batman.

Protesters threw stones at police and chanted pro-Kurdish slogans, officials and news reports said.

Fifteen people were detained, and at least a dozen suffered minor injuries.

Protesters chanted their support for Mr Ocalan's movement, the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK has fought for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey since 1984.

It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and the US.

Mr Ocalan was sentenced to death for treason, but this was later commuted to life imprisonment.

He is being held in solitary confinement as the sole inhabitant of a prison island in the sea of Marmara.

In Batman, police had reportedly warned demonstrators to disperse because the protest was unauthorised.

Clashes were also reported in Istanbul and the southern city of Mersin.

A demonstration to mark the anniversary was also held outside the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7890945.stm>

It never really goes away during waking hours - subdued, admittedly, when my mind is occupied with the real job of reporting America's economic and banking crisis - but then re-emerging irritatingly in moments of relaxation.

It is called my US tax return.

It inhabits my computer like some malevolent virus.

I am not alone. Millions of Americans are currently racing to meet the deadline for filing their 2008 returns.

The TV stations are awash with adverts for services with names like "Turbotax", promising to soothe the agony of form filling and save money.

Unyielding net

The US tax return is a work of outstanding complexity.

It asks you questions to which you have long forgotten the answer, questions to which there is really no definitive answer and questions of stunning irrelevance.

As they say here, once the IRS has got you, it never lets you go

Anyone who works in the States for more than six months has to fill in a tax return. So, even though I am still paying UK taxes, I have become enmeshed in the unyielding net of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

As they say here, once the IRS has got you, it never lets you go.

That is how they did for Al Capone in the end. Not the St Valentine's Day massacre. It was tax evasion that sent him to Alcatraz. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7888444.stm>

Dr Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these worlds could be inhabited by simple lifeforms.

He was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.

So far, telescopes have been able to detect just over 300 planets outside our Solar System.

Very few of these would be capable of supporting life, however. Most are gas giants like our Jupiter; and many orbit so close to their parent stars that any microbes would have to survive roasting temperatures.

But, based on the limited numbers of planets found so far, Dr Boss has estimated that each Sun-like star has on average one "Earth-like" planet.

This simple calculation means there would be huge numbers capable of supporting life.

"Not only are they probably habitable but they probably are also going to be inhabited," Dr Boss told BBC News. "But I think that most likely the nearby 'Earths' are going to be inhabited with things which are perhaps more common to what Earth was like three or four billion years ago." That means bacterial lifeforms.

Dr Boss estimates that Nasa's Kepler mission, due for launch in March, should begin finding some of these Earth-like planets within the next few years.

Recent work at Edinburgh University tried to quantify how many intelligent civilisations might be out there. The research suggested there could be thousands of them. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7891132.stm?lss>

It picks up signs of cell death caused by injury or tumours and mobilises the body's defences, Nature reports.

The finding may explain why some tumour-killing drugs partly work by setting off an immune response.

Better understanding of the receptor could help develop cancer treatments that harness the immune system, the London Research Institute team said.

Cell death is a normal process in the body which keeps growth and repair ticking over and keeps tissue healthy.

After a 15-year hunt, we've identified the first 'danger receptor' - one which senses abnormal cell death and then triggers an immune response Dr Caetano Reis e Sousa, study leader

But sometimes there is an abnormal type of cell death called necrosis.

It has been thought for many years that the body somehow senses this abnormal cell death and sets off an immune reaction.

From an evolutionary point of view this would make sense as injury puts the body at risk of infection and an immune response would be a sensible precaution.

However, until now no receptor capable of detecting this abnormal cell death had been found.

The researchers discovered that the DNGR-1 receptor on a type of immune cell called a dendritic cell mobilises an immune response after coming across this abnormal cell death.

Dendritic cells act as messengers, alerting other types of immune cells to kill invaders, such as viruses and bacteria. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7888042.stm?lss>

The survey, taken before Israel's recent offensive, showed the territory has a population of 1.4 million people.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated the annual growth rate at 3.3% and said the population would double in 21 years at that rate.

The UN estimates the world's current average population growth at 1.17%.

CHANGING GAZA Overall population 1997: 1,022,207 2007: 1,416,543 Aged under 15 1997: 50.2% 2007: 48.3% Proportion married 1997: 53.8% 2007: 49.6% Receiving schooling 1997: 62.8% 2007: 70.6% Source Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics website

In a statement, the West Bank-based bureau said: "Assuming a stable growth during the coming years, the Gaza Strip population will multiply [double] in 21 years."

There were mixed findings in the census for the people of Gaza.

The overwhelming majority of people in the territory (67.9%) continue to be UN-registered refugees. The figure was only slightly lower (65.1%) in 1997.

However, education and literacy showed signs of improvement.

The rate of people over the age of 10 unable to read fell from 11.3% in 1997 to 5.5% in 2007, as the proportion of those receiving school education rose from 62.8% to 70.6%.

Preliminary results from the census were released in February 2008.

According to those figures, the combined population of Gaza and the West Bank including east Jerusalem is 3.8 million.

The statistics bureau has not yet released final results on the West Bank or east Jerusalem. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7891434.stm>

By Tim Franks BBC News, Jerusalem

"The thing about Israelis," said Oron - and then paused, as he searched for the right words.

He was helping pack the wine that I had just bought from his shop close to the Jaffa Street.

It was two days after the election. Oron had voted Labour. His vote had helped the Labour party to limp to 13 seats - barely one-in-10 of the Knesset.

He picked up: "The thing about Israelis is: they like to slaughter sacred cows."

Labour used to be one of Israel's most sacred cows. When it was a group known as Mapai, it won every election from Israel's establishment until 1969.

In this election, it was knocked into fourth place, behind the hard-right Yisrael Beiteinu party.

But the numbers do not tell the entire story. Some Israelis are questioning whether the left exists at all.

Labour's leader, Ehud Barak, prosecuted the war in Gaza, as defence minister. He is reported to have offered to build a large new settlement in occupied territory to house settlers from Migron, the biggest unauthorised outpost (illegal even under Israeli law) in the West Bank.

I think there is some historical process that we can't change... I'm not sure we have anyone brave enough to challenge the stupidity Talia Sasson, Meretz party

Her report detailed how Israel's officials actively colluded in the establishment of dozens of outposts across the West Bank.

We met for a coffee, on a bright morning, in a cafe across the street from the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem.

It was three days after the election. Talia Sasson, no longer a civil servant, had stood for the small left-wing Meretz party.

She had not been elected: she was seventh on the list, and Meretz had ended up with a measly three seats.

Was there a way for the left to clamber out of the hole? Or had Israel simply moved on, and away?

Time and again, Talia Sasson took refuge in what she believed was the iron logic of removing settlements from the occupied territories.

"I think that the one which is not Zionist is the right-wing," she insisted.

"Because where they take Israel to is to a single bi-national state."

But how does the left end up not just talking to itself? There was a long pause. Listening back to my recording of our conversation, the silence lasted for a painful 12 seconds.

Eventually: "I think there is some historical process that we can't change," she said, quietly. And then, later: "I'm not sure we have anyone brave enough to challenge the stupidity."

Talia Sasson said she did not know whether she was cut out for politics.

This was her first campaign, at the age of 57. As it is, she is still living with the threats and the intimidation which followed the publication of her report into outposts. But she says she also fears that time is running out for Israel.

A couple of miles away, in the wine shop, Oron takes a more relaxed approach, perhaps built on the patience of someone used to leaving bottles in a cellar.

"Israel will come to its senses," he says. "Maybe in about 200 years." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7892105.stm>

HMS Vanguard is now back at its home base at Faslane on the Clyde

HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant were badly damaged in the crash in heavy seas earlier this month.

First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band said the submarines came into contact at low speed and no injuries were reported.

Both the UK and France insisted nuclear security had not been compromised.

BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the incident was "incredibly embarrassing" for the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

HMS Vanguard returned to its home base Faslane on the Firth of Clyde under her own power on 14 February.

"Very visible dents and scrapes" could be seen as tugs towed her in to the port on the final stage of the journey, our correspondent said.

The submarines are equipped with sonar to detect other vessels nearby but our correspondent said it might be the case that the anti-sonar devices, meant to hide the submarines from enemies, were "too effective".

"This is clearly a one-in-a-million chance when you think about how big the Atlantic is," she said.

The two submarines are key parts of each nation's nuclear deterrent, and would have been carrying missiles, though both the UK and France have insisted there was no danger of a nuclear incident.

They were carrying around 240 sailors between them. A French naval spokesman said the collision did not result in any injuries to the crew.

Le Triomphant is based at L'Ile Longue near Brest, north-west France. HMS Vanguard arrived back in Faslane on Saturday.

On 6 February, France's defence ministry had said that Le Triomphant "collided with an immersed object (probably a container)" when coming back from patrolling, and that the vessel's sonar dome was damaged.

But in a subsequent statement, it admitted that the collision between the two submarines took place.

"They briefly came into contact at a very low speed while submerged," the statement added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7892294.stm>

By Helen Fawkes, BBC News, Mitrovica

By day the ethnic Albanian is the deputy head of a local school but by night he is part of an unofficial neighbourhood patrol.

''We are committed to staying here even though we are experiencing tremendous pressures from the Serbs living next door to us,'' Adem says.

Adem lives in a Serb part of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica.

He is joined around the fire by other neighbours who all stand out on the streets after dark guarding their homes.

There is an entrenched criminal network and there are leaders without legitimacy and this needs to be addressed Pieter Feith International Civilian Representative

Just a couple of nights ago a hand grenade exploded in the area.

''Last month they were shooting at the window of the room where my kids were sleeping," Adem tells me.

"Six weeks ago a crowd of people came in front of my house and tried to set fire to it, then they moved away and burned three shops that were here in the neighbourhood. For all of this they are accusing Albanians because they say that we are provoking them.''

Since independence was declared a year ago on 17 February 2008, ethnic tensions have continued to smoulder in Mitrovica, which is the main town in the Serb-dominated north.

There has been sporadic violence. When trouble flared here back in March, a UN policeman was shot dead.

A year on from its self-declared independence, Kosovo has a new constitution and it is run by the government here instead of the UN.

But there is no sign that the government in the capital Pristina is able to assert its power over the north of Kosovo, which is around a quarter of the territory.

Last month a Nato-trained Kosovo Security Force was launched.

It replaced the Kosovo Protection Corps, which consisted mainly of veterans of the independence struggle against Serbia.

The new force, which will be more than 2,000-strong, is supposed to be multi-ethnic - but so far just six Serbs have applied to join.

Tense situation

Independence day will be ignored by Kosovo Serbs. Supported by Belgrade, they say that Kosovo is still part of Serbia.

''We've had a quite tense situation since 17 February 2008 because Serbs didn't recognise the independence but the Albanians thought everyone should recognise it," says Oliver Ivanovic, a moderate Serb leader and Serbian government official.

"This creates a political tension which can easily escalate and we have had incidents in Mitrovica which have been motivated by this lack of understanding.''

In the run-up to the anniversary, some EU police officials took part in their first joint training session with some of the 15,000 Nato peacekeepers in Kosovo.

The EU launched its largest ever civilian mission in Kosovo in December.

Its main role is not to police Kosovo but to monitor, mentor and advise in the areas of police, customs and justice.

Working alongside the customs service, EU officials are now based at the border and some of them work in mobile units which travel around the area.

At the Merdare border crossing with Serbia, a team of three EU customs officials turn up unannounced. They watch as random checks are carried out on a long line of cars and lorries.

Last year in retaliation for the declaration of independence, Kosovo Serbs burnt down two of the customs posts. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7893667.stm>

Some witnessed the actual conflict, which claimed at least one million lives, while others encountered veterans of the conflict.

SOVIET MEMORIES   Ferrying the dead Axe versus tank The horror

AFGHAN MEMORIES Family targeted The day Russians came Brothers at war

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7883804.stm>

By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News, Chicago

Our planet may harbour forms of "weird life" unrelated to life as we know it, according to Professor Paul Davies, a physicist at Arizona State University.

This "shadow life" may be hidden in toxic arsenic lakes or in boiling deep sea hydrothermal vents, he says.

He has called on scientists to launch a "mission to Earth" by trawling hostile environments for signs of bio-activity.

Weird life could even be living among us, in forms which we don't yet recognise, he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Chicago.

"We don't have to go to other planets to find weird life.

"It could be right in front of our noses - or even in our noses," said the physicist.

"It is entirely reasonable to expect we will find a shadow biosphere here on Earth.

"But nobody has actually taken the trouble to look.

"The question is why? The cost is not expensive - it would be a fraction of the money we spend searching for extraterrestrial life."

'Second genesis'

Professor Davies was one of the speakers at a symposium exploring the possibility that life has evolved on Earth more than once.

How do we know we are dealing with separate Earth genesis and not a Mars genesis? Professor Paul Davies, Arizona State University

The descendants of this "second genesis" may have survived until today in a "shadow biosphere" which is beyond our radar because its inhabitants have biochemistry so different from our own.

"All our microscopes are customised for life as we know it - so it's no surprise that we haven't found microbes with different biochemistry," said Professor Davies.

"We don't quite know how weird life would look. It's as wide as the imagination and that's why it's really hard to look for."

If it exists, weird life could be based on DNA and RNA - but with a slightly different genetic code or different amino acids.

At the other end of the spectrum, we could find creatures which have more drastic differences.

"Maybe one of the elements life uses - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus - could be replaced by something else," said Professor Davies.

"When I say that, everyone immediately thinks of silicon life - because of Star Trek. But I'm not talking about anything that drastic.

"For example, most of the jobs that can be done by phosphorus can be done by arsenic."

Arsenic may be poisonous to humans, but it has chemical properties which might make it ideal in a microbe's machinery, he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7893414.stm>