Policing the World-18

Afghan 'Indiana Jones' hunts lost Bamiyan statue

Lyse Doucet BBC Newsnight, Bamiyan

Dr Zemaryalai Tarzi is an Afghan with a big dream. To be exact, this archaeologist dreams of a giant - a 1,000ft (300 metre) sleeping Buddha.

Try to imagine a stone statue reclining across the length of three football fields.

But it is more than a dream. Dr Tarzi is trying to make it a reality.

"At first, people told me I must be mad," he recounted, barely concealing a smile, as we stood at his excavation in the midst of potato fields in the ancient Afghan city of Bamiyan.

"An archaeologist needs proof. We need to keep searching."

Dr Tarzi, who has been mapping the landscape of Bamiyan for 40 years, is renowned world-wide for his knowledge of the Buddhist civilisation that flourished centuries ago in the central highlands of Afghanistan.

Bamiyan was a storied destination for travellers journeying on the Silk Road between East and West. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8233849.stm>

An inquiry has been launched after two children were allegedly stopped and searched by police under "terrorism legislation" in south London.

Two officers carried out a stop and search on a man, 43, his daughter, 11, and another child, six, near Woolwich Arsenal station, the man said.

The officers also took his mobile phones, USB stick and a CD, he added.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating the "worrying" allegation.

The man said that during the search the plain clothes officers ordered him to stand in front of a CCTV camera to have his photograph taken.

They did not tell him when or how he could have his items returned, he added.

'Particularly worrying'

The IPCC is investigating the complaint with the Metropolitan Police Service's Directorate of Professional Standards.

IPCC Commissioner Mike Franklin said: "The use of Section 44 stop and search powers is a very sensitive issue and it is right that complaints of this nature are taken very seriously."

He added: "It is particularly worrying that two young children were allegedly searched in this way.

"This investigation will look at whether the use of these powers in this case was lawful, reasonable and correctly carried out."

The allegation comes after nine-year-old Jadan Shepherd was stopped and searched by police in Camberwell, south London, last month.

His mother Sandra Shepherd subsequently lodged a complaint, which is being investigated by the Directorate of Professional Standards.

More than 157,290 stop and searches were carried out in London last year, nearly triple the number carried out in 2007.

Stop and searches led to 1,200 arrests in the year to September 2008. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8248282.stm>

Venezuela will recognise the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, President Hugo Chavez says.

Venezuela will become the third country to support their controversial independence declarations, after Russia and Nicaragua.

Mr Chavez made the announcement during a visit to Russia.

Most of the world still considers the territories to be part of Georgia. They were the subject of a war between Russia and Georgia last year.

Georgia launched an assault to try to regain control of South Ossetia, but it was repelled by Russian forces.

Russia then built up its presence in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and recognised their independence.

The move was condemned by the West, and snubbed by the international community, with only Nicaragua following suit.

But analysts say Venezuela's move will be a boost for Russia, which has made no secret of its wish to see an end to what it calls the "regime in Georgia" of President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev thanked Mr Chavez for his announcement, adding: "We think that it is a sovereign affair of states whether to recognise their independence." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8248102.stm>

Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri says he is to abandon his attempt to form a national unity government and is stepping down.

Mr Hariri has spent more than 10 weeks trying to assemble a government.

Earlier this week a team he put forward was rejected by Lebanon's opposition, led by Shia radical group Hezbollah.

President Michel Suleiman is expected to consult with parliament in an effort to nominate a new candidate for PM, reports say.

"Given that my commitment to forming a government of national unity has run up against difficulties that everyone now knows about, I announce that I have informed the president of the republic that I have abandoned trying to form a government," he said in Beirut.

"I hope that this decision will be in the interests of Lebanon and will permit a relaunch of dialogue," the AFP news agency reported him as saying.

Mr Hariri - son of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a car bomb in 2005 - had been trying to form a government since Lebanon held elections in June.

His pro-Western alliance emerged as the largest party, but needed support of other parties to form a government.

On Monday he proposed a 30-seat coalition cabinet to Mr Suleiman.

But the proposal ran into trouble when Hezbollah refused to agree to the make-up and distribution of cabinet posts. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8248662.stm>

US President Barack Obama has voiced his disappointment directly to UK PM Gordon Brown over the release of the Lockerbie bomber, the White House says.

It says Mr Obama made his remarks in a telephone call to Mr Brown.

The decision to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was taken by the Scottish government and the British government insists it did not intervene at all.

Megrahi was jailed for the 1988 attack which claimed 270 lives. He was freed on compassionate grounds last month.

"The president expressed his disappointment over the Scottish Executive's decision to release convicted Pan Am 103 Bomber al-Megrahi back to Libya," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Downing Street confirmed that the issue was raised during Mr Brown's 40-minute telephone conversation with Mr Obama on Thursday.

A spokesman in London said the issue "came up" but refused to say who raised it first.

The spokesman also declined to confirm if Mr Obama had expressed his disappointment over the release of Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer.

Last month, Mr Obama said the release of the bomber was "a mistake", but had not expressed this personally to Mr Brown.

One hundred and eighty nine Americans were among those who died in the explosion, and some US victims' families have reacted angrily to Megrahi's release. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8249474.stm>

By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

The UN says it cannot continue to indefinitely fund the main refugee camp in Sri Lanka where the government is keeping nearly 300,000 people.

The Menik Farm camp holds the Tamils who fled the fighting in the months before the civil war ended in May.

Sri Lankan authorities say they are still screening everyone for possible links with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The UN says the civilians living there should be allowed to leave as soon as possible.

Since the war ended in May, the Sri Lankan authorities have refused to let anyone leave this vast camp apart from some young children, elderly people and priests.

UN agencies help fund and run the camps but there are signs the UN is running out of patience.

"The best solution is obviously that as many people leave as soon as possible," the UN's Sri Lanka chief, Neil Buhne, told the BBC.

"And that the site can become - for the people who have no place else to go - that it becomes an open site." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8249861.stm>

Iran's supreme leader has vowed to confront those who threaten national security, amid continuing disputes over the presidential election.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was leading Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since June, when he defended President Ahmadinejad's re-election.

He said that "resisting the system" would bring "a harsh response".

Iran says 36 people died in violence after the 12 June polls; the opposition says double that number were killed.

This week the Iranian authorities arrested two prominent opposition figures and closed down the offices of Mehdi Karoubi, who was a presidential contender. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8249838.stm>

Gordon Brown has said he is sorry for the "appalling" way World War II code-breaker Alan Turing was treated for being gay.

A petition on the No 10 website had called for a posthumous government apology to the computer pioneer.

In 1952 Turing was prosecuted for gross indecency after admitting a sexual relationship with a man. Two years later he killed himself.

The campaign was the idea of computer scientist John Graham-Cumming.

He was seeking an apology for the way the mathematician was treated after his conviction. He also wrote to the Queen to ask for Turing to be awarded a posthumous knighthood.

The campaign was backed by Ian McEwan, scientist Richard Dawkins and gay-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. The petition posted on the Downing Street website attracted thousands of signatures.

Mr Brown, writing in the Telegraph newspaper, said: "While Mr Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8249792.stm>

Tests on South Africa's 800m world champion Caster Semenya are likely to show that she has an inter-gender condition, BBC Sport understands.

Semenya, 18, was asked to take gender tests following her rapid rise to prominence in 2009 and just hours before she won the title in Berlin.

The IAAF has the results but wants them examined before speaking to Semenya.

BBC Sport's Gordon Farquhar said: "It's likely that she has some hermaphroditic or inter-gender condition."

An Australian newspaper has claimed that Semenya is a hermaphrodite - someone who has some or all of the primary sex characteristics of both men and women.

The reports have sparked an angry reaction in South Africa, with one senior MP calling for the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) to be sued over the way Semenya has been treated.

South Africa's athletics president Leonard Chuene told the Star newspaper: "The IAAF told us this week that the tests are inconclusive and they could not give us the results just yet.

"So I really do not know where the Australia media got this latest one from."

National Assembly's sports committee chairman Butana Komphela added: "Someone is guilty of leaking her confidential medical information to Australian newspapers."

But the IAAF's Nick Davies said: "The statements should be treated with caution as they are not official statements by the IAAF.

"We have received the results from Germany, but they now need to be examined by a group of experts and we will not be in a position to speak to the athlete about them for at least a few weeks.

"After that, depending on the results, we will meet privately with the athlete to discuss further action."

The IAAF has confirmed they will not comment further on Semenya until after the IAAF council meeting in Monaco on 20-21 November. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/8249948.stm>

Police are investigating an incident involving an MI6 officer for possible complicity in torture.

This follows referral of the incident to Attorney General Baroness Scotland by MI6 - the Secret Intelligence Service - on its own initiative.

Scotland Yard said it had been asked to investigate "the conditions under which a non-Briton was held" and "potential involvement of British personnel".

Scotland Yard is already probing claims MI5 was complicit in abuse of a man.

UK resident Binyam Mohamed claims that an officer from MI5 - the Security Service - was complicit in his torture while he was in US custody in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan.

The new investigation was announced in a letter from Foreign Secretary David Miliband to shadow foreign secretary William Hague.

Mr Miliband wrote: "It is for the police to investigate. The government cannot comment further both to avoid prejudice and to protect the individuals involved.

"The scope and handling of any police investigation is a matter for the police themselves." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8250805.stm>

Papers published by the Foreign Office reveal the extent of Margaret Thatcher's opposition to German unification. As Brian Hanrahan reports, she had an ally in French President Francois Mitterrand, but was at odds with her own foreign secretary.

The fall of the Berlin wall was a moment that brought joy to much of the world, catapulting the issue of German reunification onto the international agenda.

THATCHER-MITTERRAND MEETING President Mitterrand [said] the sudden prospect of re-unification had delivered a sort of mental shock to the Germans - its effect had been to turn them once again into the bad Germans they used to be From memo by Thatcher adviser Charles Powell on lunch with Francois Mitterrand, 20/01/90 Extract from German Unification 1989-1990 [2.12MB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

But both British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and France's President Mitterrand were worried.

Mrs Thatcher feared that by joining East and West Germany, a greater German state would be created which would be too powerful.

From the very start she showed caution.

"We must be immensely grateful to those people behind the iron curtain who never lost their faith in liberty," she said.

"But now it's the hard work of building the democracy and then we have to see what happens."

Mrs Thatcher's foreign policy adviser, Charles Powell, recorded her belief that West Germany needed to be checked by its allies.

"The Prime Minister's view is... we do not want to wake up one morning and find that events have moved entirely beyond our control and that German reunification is to all intents and purposes on us," he wrote on 8 December 1989.

But Mrs Thatcher, who was used to influencing European leaders, could not convince them of her position on re-unification, even though she argued that re-unification might weaken the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Even her Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, disagreed.

"My only real argument with her during the year that I was her foreign secretary was on the German question, where she certainly felt that the brakes should be applied," Mr Hurd said.

"She felt that partly for reasons about Germany and partly because she felt we must not put Mr Gorbachev at risk."

But the Foreign Office thought there was no hope of blocking Germany's re-unification. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8251211.stm>

Right-wing groups who claim to oppose Islamic extremism are trying to provoke violence on Britain's streets, the communities minister has said.

John Denham spoke after clashes between different groups at a new London mosque, during a march by the group Stop the Islamification of Europe.

Demonstrations by an affiliated group, the English Defence League, have led to violence in Birmingham in recent weeks.

Mr Denham said protests could get "out of control" unless action was taken.

Ten people were arrested on Friday after scuffles broke out at the site of a new five-storey mosque planned next to the Harrow Central Mosque in north-west London.

Local Muslims and members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) confronted protesters from Stop the Islamification of Europe and chased them away.

The Honduran interim President, Roberto Micheletti, says the US has revoked his diplomatic and tourist visas.

Mr Micheletti, who came to power in June through a military coup, said the move was a "sign of the pressure the US government was exerting" on Honduras.

The US has condemned the coup and demanded the return to power of the deposed president, Manuel Zelaya.

Mr Micheletti said he was not pleased that the US Consulate addressed him as president of Congress - his prior role.

Left-leaning President Zelaya was ousted from power and forced to leave the country on 28 June.

Last week, the US halted all non-humanitarian aid to Honduras - about $30m (£18.4m) - in the wake of the coup.

The State Department said the US needed to take strong action given the failure of the replacement regime to restore "democratic, constitutional rule".

In July it had stripped four other officials associated with the coup of their US visas. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8252473.stm>

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says work still needs to be done to narrow differences before peace talks with Palestinians can resume.

Mr Netanyahu, speaking before heading to Egypt for talks, said he hoped to bridge the gaps as a new push on Middle East peace got under way.

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has arrived in Israel for talks.

A key stumbling block remains Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

But the US still hopes the Palestinians and Israelis can meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month.

'Setting up obstacles'

Mr Netanyahu is set to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo later on Sunday, as Mr Mitchell meets the Israeli president and defence and foreign ministers.

Mr Netanyahu, speaking after a meeting of his cabinet on Sunday, said of the peace push: "There is still work. There are things where there has been progress and things where there still has not been.

"I hope we will be able to narrow the gaps and perhaps bridge them so we will be able to get peacemaking moving."

He said it was not Israel that was "setting up obstacles" to talks.

"From our point of view, we could do it tomorrow, or even yesterday."

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas insists he will not meet his Israeli counterparts until there is a freeze on new settlements in the West Bank.

The settlement of occupied territory is illegal under international law but Israel last week said it had given permission for 455 new homes to be built.

The move prompted Mr Abbas to say that there was no point attending a summit with Mr Netanyahu.

The White House also criticised the settlement decision. President Barack Obama has previously said he wants all settlement activity to stop.

Israel has indicated that it will be willing to consider a temporary halt to granting permission for further construction.

The BBC's Tim Franks, in Jerusalem, says that Mr Mitchell will be seeking to square these competing positions ahead of the planned talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

One of the key figures Mr Mitchell is expected to meet on Sunday is Israeli President Shimon Peres, who has now left hospital a day after fainting on stage.

Mr Peres, 86, collapsed briefly while standing at a lectern answering questions in Tel Aviv.

Mr Netanyahu said of the president: "He sounds, as usual, excellent and he is, of course, unstoppable." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8252993.stm>

A British army officer who, after running out of ammunition, used his bayonet to charge a Taliban fighter has been awarded the Military Cross.

Lt James Adamson, who is 24 and serves with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, was given the medal for his "supreme physical courage".

His actions while on tour in Afghanistan saved the lives of soldiers in his platoon.

He said he ran out of ammunition after killing one man, so charged the second. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8252974.stm>

Buckingham Palace has released the text of a letter written by the Queen Mother in the aftermath of a Second World War bombing attack on Buckingham Palace.

The letter to Queen Mary said she was with George VI, removing an eyelash from his eye, when the bomb landed.

She recounted the scream of a bomb which exploded with a tremendous crash.

She confessed her "knees trembled a little bit for a minute or two", but ended with "PS: Dear old BP is still standing and that is the main thing".

BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said Buckingham Palace was bombed nine times during the war. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8252978.stm>

An audio message purportedly by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been released on an Islamist website.

The message, entitled "a statement to the American people", was about 10 minutes long and was accompanied by a still image of Bin Laden but no video.

In the message, a voice tells the US president that he is "powerless" to stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The message comes just two days after the US marked the eighth anniversary of the 11 September attacks on America.

'No real change'

In the recording, the voice discusses what motivated the al-Qaeda network to launch the 11 September attacks. He explained that they were, in part, fuelled by US support for Israel.

"The time has come for you to liberate yourselves from fear and the ideological terrorism of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby," the voice in the tape says.

"The reason for our dispute with you is your support for your ally Israel, occupying our land in Palestine."

The voice believed to be Bin Laden also speaks of how the conflict between al-Qaeda and the US may end.

"If you stop the war, then fine. Otherwise we will have no choice but to continue our war of attrition on every front [...] If you choose safety and stopping wars, as opinion polls show you do, then we are ready to respond to this," it says.

In the message, the al-Qaeda leader accuses the new president of failing to fundamentally change foreign policy because of his decision to retain key figures from the previous administration, including Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

"If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups," he says.

Bin Laden is thought to be hiding in mountainous terrain on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

In his last known message, in June, Bin Laden had said that US President Barack Obama had planted the seeds of "revenge and hatred" towards the US in the Muslim world. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8253827.stm>

A former official at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague has been convicted of contempt of court.

French journalist Florence Hartmann - the court's spokeswoman for six years - was fined 7,000 euros (£6,100).

She was found guilty of disclosing the existence of confidential documents on Serbian government involvement in the Bosnian war of the 1990s.

The documents were discussed in a book and article published by Ms Hartmann.

The confidential documents in question were only released by Belgrade for the trial of the former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

It is necessary to discourage the accused or any person from disclosing confidential information in future Judge Bakone Moloto Profile: Florence Hartmann

Hartmann had argued the documents should have been made available during a separate trial at the International Court of Justice in which Bosnia unsuccessfully tried to sue Serbia for genocide.

But the tribunal ruled that it had the right to prevent documents from being leaked and that Hartmann, as a permanent employee, was fully aware of the court's rules and procedures.

"It is necessary to discourage the accused or any person from disclosing confidential information in future," said presiding Judge Bakone Moloto.

The precise content of the documents has never been made public, but they are thought to chronicle contacts between the Serbian government and the Bosnian Serb army.

Hartmann maintained they could prove a link between Belgrade and war crimes committed in Bosnia - most notably the massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys at the Bosnian village of Srebrenica in 1995.

Critics of the case say that such papers should never have been the subject of a confidentiality order in the first place.

The French journalist had faced a maximum sentence of up to seven years in jail or a fine of almost £90,000 ($150,000).

Her defence counsel said other journalists had written about the documents before her publications and that her case was merely intended to set a legal precedent. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8253992.stm>

By Roland Buerk BBC News, Tokyo

Tokyo police have begun a week-long crackdown against the twice-daily scourge of gropers on commuter trains.

Undercover teams have been deployed on some lines in a bid to catch molesters in the act on crowded trains.

Last year more than 6,000 people were arrested on suspicion of groping or taking unsolicited photographs.

According to one survey, nearly two-thirds of young women have been groped on public transport. Some train lines have introduced women-only carriages.

Website 'recommendations'

Tokyo police have begun what is being described as a "groping prevention week".

There are conspicuous extra police patrols in stations handing out leaflets, and undercover teams have been deployed on trains to try to catch men in the act.

Gropers can be imprisoned for up to seven years in Japan.

Local reports say the police are particularly concerned that gropers are using the internet to co-ordinate their activities and form gangs.

Several suspects arrested in recent months are said to have told officers they had targeted particular train lines because of recommendations they had read on websites. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8254389.stm>

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have rebuffed US demands for a total freeze on settlement building in the West Bank.

He is quoted as saying he had told Washington he would instead consider "scaling down construction" .

The US has called on Israel to halt all construction work in a bid to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.

US Mid-East envoy George Mitchell is in the region to finalise terms for renewed peace talks.

The US hopes the Israeli and Palestinian leaders will meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York later this month.

Mr Mitchell said, after talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday, that they were working hard to reach agreement on "many outstanding issues". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8255244.stm>

Foreign soldiers have staged an attack on militants in Somalia, killing at least two people in a helicopter raid.

The troops, who according to some reports had uniforms with French insignia, attacked a vehicle carrying Islamists from the al-Shabab group.

Witnesses said the soldiers took away two men, and there were two bodies left in the road after the attack in the southern coastal town of Barawe.

A French military spokesman denied its forces were involved.

"There was no French operation," said admiral Christophe Prazuck, spokesman for the armed forces' general staff.

He said the only French forces in the area were tackling pirates off the coast and did not intervene on land. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8254957.stm>

Profile: Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan

US forces are "likely" to have killed a top al-Qaeda suspect during a military raid in Somalia, US officials say.

They flew helicopters into Somalia and attacked a car they say was carrying Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.

US agents have been hunting Nabhan for years over attacks on a hotel and an Israeli airliner in Kenya in 2002.

It is believed he fled to Somalia after the attacks and was working with the al-Shabab group, which the Americans see as al-Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan, in the capital Mogadishu, says the raid has raised concern among Somalis.

They fear such attacks by foreign forces may help to fuel the extremism they are designed to combat, our correspondent says.

The US last launched a major strike in Somalia in May 2008, reportedly killing al-Shabab's military leader and at least 10 others.

The raid led to protests by villagers and critics say it had little effect on al-Shabab's capabilities.

French connection?

Analysts say Nabhan is one of the most senior leaders of al-Qaeda's East Africa cell.

US-based Somalia expert Andre le Sage told the BBC's Network Africa programme that his death, if confirmed, would severely hamper the network's ability to operate in the region.

Various media outlets have carried quotes from unnamed US officials confirming that the raid, on Monday afternoon, was carried out by US special forces targeting Nabhan.

A Somali minister told the BBC he also believed Nabhan had been killed.

Earlier reports had quoted witnesses as saying the troops wore uniforms with French insignia and had flown from a ship bearing a French flag.

But the French military strongly denied their forces were involved.

'Helicopter strike'

Somali sources told the BBC that six helicopters were involved in the attack on two vehicles in the southern coastal town of Barawe, which is controlled by al-Shabab.

FOREIGN FORCES IN SOMALIA December 2006 Ethiopia invades, helps topple militant Islamist group 2007, 2008 US airstrikes against militants it claims are linked to al-Qaeda April 2008 French storm a yacht and capture pirates after ransom is paid October 2008 Nato launches anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia January 2009 Ethiopia withdraws its troops April 2009 Two pirates killed and four hostages freed by French commandos

A US official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying special forces had flown by helicopter from a US Navy ship and fired on a vehicle that they believed was carrying Nabhan.

He added that the body believed to be Nabhan's had been taken into custody.

Nabhan is suspected of bombing an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, and trying to shoot down an Israeli airliner in 2002.

The authorities in Kenya also regard him as a suspect in two attacks on US embassies in the region in 1998.

The US and France both have troops stationed in neighbouring Djibouti.

During 2007 and 2008 the US carried out air strikes against Somali Islamist groups it accused of links to al-Qaeda - though this year such attacks have tailed off.

Monday's assault comes several weeks after a French security adviser held by militants in Mogadishu managed to get free. A colleague seized at the same time remains in captivity.

Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991.

Rival Islamist factions are battling forces loyal to the weak UN-backed government, which controls only small parts of the capital Mogadishu.

Al-Shabab are said to have links to al-Qaeda, and to have been reinforced with foreign fighters. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8254957.stm>

The fact that children raised in homes without a dad have sex earlier is down to their genes, say US researchers.

The study tested for genetic influences as well as factors such as poverty, educational opportunities and religion.

The more genes the children shared, the more similar their ages of first intercourse regardless of whether they had an absent father or not.

A spokesman for the charity, Brook, said children needed early education to help them make informed choices. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8251483.stm>

Showering may be bad for your health, say US scientists, who have shown that dirty shower heads can deliver a face full of harmful bacteria.

Tests revealed nearly a third of devices harbour significant levels of a bug that causes lung disease.

Levels of Mycobacterium avium were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water supplies.

M. avium forms a biofilm that clings to the inside of the shower head, reports the National Academy of Science.

If you are getting a face full of water when you first turn your shower on, that means you are probably getting a particularly high load of Mycobacterium avium, which may not be too healthy Researcher Professor Norman Pace

In the Proceedings journal, the study authors say their findings might explain why there have been more cases of these lung infections in recent years, linked with people tending to take more showers and fewer baths.

Water spurting from shower heads can distribute bacteria-filled droplets that suspend themselves in the air and can easily be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs, say the scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8254206.stm>

Ballots from 10% of polling stations in Afghanistan need to be recounted because of indications of fraud, a top election official says.

About 2,500 polling stations across the country were affected, Grant Kippen of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said.

His comments come amid reports of serious tensions within the UN mission over the issue of electoral fraud.

A substantive vote recount could force President Hamid Karzai into a run-off.

With 95% of the vote counted, Mr Karzai had a 54% share, electoral officials said on Saturday.

But if fraud investigations cause this figure to drop below 50%, he and closest challenger Abdullah Abdullah, who has 28% of the vote, may have to go to a second-round vote.

Afghanistan's second direct presidential election on 20 August was marred by widespread claims of vote-rigging and intimidation.

The ECC last week ordered Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission to identify stations reporting 100% turn-out or where one candidate received more than 95% of the vote in order for recounts to be carried out.

"About 2,500 plus polling stations are affected by the order and all provinces are affected," ECC Chairman Grant Kippen told AFP news agency. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8256271.stm>

The senior American commander in Iraq has told the BBC that he is concerned that the country will be forgotten, amid the current focus on Afghanistan.

Gen Ray Odierno said troop numbers in Iraq would stay at that level until after elections in January next year.

He suggested there was always a risk that the security situation in Iraq could deteriorate and said he wanted to finish what had been started.

The US has 130,000 troops in Iraq, almost twice the number in Afghanistan.

The US troop count is due to drop quickly to about 50,000 by this time next year.

The endemic corruption within the Iraqi system - not only the security forces, but the system - is still probably the biggest problem facing Iraq Gen Ray Odierno

"We have spent a lot of money here. We've spent a lot of lives here, both the US and the UK. So we have an opportunity. It's important to see this through," Gen Odierno said.

"I concern myself that people don't forget about Iraq, and what we're trying to accomplish here, but I am confident in the leadership that I have - that they understand the importance of Iraq."

BBC Baghdad correspondent Andrew North says that Gen Odierno was choosing his words with care. But he was giving a clear message, that with the situation still fragile here, the US cannot leave Iraq early.

Gen Odierno said risks remained though Iraqis had rejected al-Qaeda, the militias and "ethno-sectarian violence".

"The problem is, there's still attacks on the civilians here in Iraq, there's attacks against the government of Iraq, all aimed at destabilising the government itself, and the political process."

The general said he was particularly concerned also about corruption.

"The endemic corruption within the Iraqi system - not only the security forces, but the system - is still probably the biggest problem facing Iraq.

"I think the ministry of defence and ministry of interior probably are taking more action than most other ministries right now, so I'm confident that they're on the right path." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8256134.stm>

There is evidence that both Israeli and Palestinian forces committed war crimes in the recent Gaza conflict, the official UN report says.

The report criticises Israel for using "disproportionate force" and "collective punishment" during the three-week attack ending January 2009.

It also condemned Palestinian rocket attacks, which sparked the offensive.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166.

Israel, which had refused to co-operate with the UN fact-finding team, said the report was "clearly one-sided".

It reiterated that it was "committed to acting fully in accordance with international law and to examining any allegations of wrongdoing by its forces". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8257301.stm>

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George W Bush says he was tortured by senior government officials while in jail.

Shortly after his release from nine months in a Baghdad prison, Muntadar al-Zaidi demanded an apology - and said he would name the officials later.

Iraqi officials told the BBC his claims should be investigated.

His protest last December made him a hero for many Arabs. He was convicted of assaulting a foreign leader.

Initially, he was sentenced to three years in jail.

But he had the term reduced to 12 months on appeal and was released three months early for good behaviour.

'Insurgent revolutionary'

MUNTADAR AL-ZAIDI Worked for Egypt-based broadcaster since 2005 Was kidnapped by gunmen while reporting in Baghdad in 2007 Detained by US troops for a night in 2008, his brother says, before they freed him and apologised In pictures: Fashion of shoe-ing In the shoe thrower's footsteps Profile: Shoe-throwing reporter

After his release on Tuesday he told journalists: "I am free again, but my homeland is still a prison."

Reuters news agency reported he was slurring his speech because of a missing tooth.

He went on to say he had suffered beatings, whippings, electric shocks and simulated drowning at the hands of officials and guards.

"At the time that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on television that he could not sleep without being reassured on my fate... I was being tortured in the worst ways, beaten with electric cables and iron bars," he said.

He demanded an apology from Mr Maliki and said he would name the officials who tortured him in due course.

ANALYSIS Hugh Sykes, BBC News, Baghdad Many Iraqis regard Muntadar al-Zaidi as a national hero - others think he was unforgivably rude. After leaving prison, Mr Zaidi went straight to al Baghdadiya, the TV station he was working for at the news conference where he threw the shoes. Addressing his own news conference, he said he had been tortured in jail. A spokesman for the ministry of human rights told us that if he was badly treated, it's likely that it happened while he was in custody before his trial, and not in the prison where he spent the past nine months, as it is a jail with a good reputation. Shoe thrower welcomed home

He also said he feared US intelligence services regarded him as an "insurgent revolutionary" and would "spare no effort" in a bid to kill him.

"I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally," he said.

His allegations of abuse mirror claims made earlier by his family, who said he had been beaten, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding.

The Iraqi military earlier denied the allegations, but following Zaidi's news conference Sami Al Askari, an adviser to Mr Maliki, said his torture claims should be investigated.

Zaidi's family has been preparing to throw a party for him.

He has reportedly received offers of money, jobs and even marriage from across the Arab world.

His relatives say he was offered a golden horse by the Emir of Qatar. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8256525.stm>

By Paul Reynolds BBC News, World Affairs correspondent

Stand by for some new buzz phrases to describe what is going on in international relations as the first year of the Obama administration unfolds.

"Bundles of co-operation", "coalitions of the relevant" and "minilateralism" are some key ones. "Engagement" is another.

This new jargon is used as a kind of shorthand to portray the reinvigorated form of diplomacy that the United States is now pursuing, as it moves from being the only superpower to being the main player in a game in which others take part.

The phrases are used in the latest edition of the annual Strategic Survey, issued by the London think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

In analysing how a "weakened" United States should lower its sights and try to form regional groupings to help it, the IISS Director General Dr John Chipman said: "Domestically, [President] Obama may have campaigned on the theme 'yes we can'; internationally he may increasingly have to argue 'no we can't'".

Iran is likely to test the theory of 'no drama Obama'

Another IISS analyst transferred a campaign description of Barack Obama into the foreign field and said he might become known as "no drama Obama". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8256905.stm>

The US House of Representatives has voted to rebuke Joe Wilson, the Republican lawmaker who heckled President Barack Obama during a speech.

Mr Wilson shouted out "You lie" while Mr Obama was a delivering an address on healthcare to a joint session of both houses of Congress last week.

The House resolution of disapproval described Mr Wilson's conduct as "a breach of decorum".

Lawmakers voted 240-179 in favour of the resolution. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8258011.stm>

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's campaign team has condemned as "irresponsible" claims by EU monitors about the extent of election fraud.

The row came as the final preliminary result gave Mr Karzai victory with 54.6%. The result is not yet official.

EU election observers earlier said about 1.5m votes - about a quarter of all ballots - could be fraudulent.

The claims came amid a growing strain in the international community about how to deal with the election fallout.

Earlier, the head of the UN mission in Afghanistan admitted his deputy had left the country after a row between them over the election.

But Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, denied reports he had ordered his US deputy, Peter Galbraith, to leave.

Also on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama said there was "no immediate decision pending" on sending more troops to tackle a mounting Taliban insurgency.

His comments came a day after the top US military officer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen, told the Senate that more troops might be required.

Although Wednesday's results announcement represents a complete tally of votes, the final declaration of a winner is not likely to be made for some weeks.

Mr Abdullah was listed second with 27.8% and turnout was confirmed as 38.7%. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8259295.stm>

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he believes in the integrity of last month's election process despite allegations of vote-rigging.

He denied there had been major fraud and said he was "shocked" by EU observers' claims that a quarter of votes could be fraudulent.

Mr Karzai said it was up to the Afghan constitutional bodies to investigate any allegations of fraud.

Final preliminary results have given Mr Karzai victory with 54.6% of the vote.

"I believe firmly, firmly in the integrity of the election and the integrity of the Afghan people, and the integrity of the government in that process," Mr Karzai told a news conference, his first in almost a month.

ANALYSIS Martin Patience, BBC News, Kabul What was most significant about this press conference was what President Karzai did not say - and that was declare outright victory. Ahead in the unofficial poll, President Karzai has faced a ferocious barrage of fraud allegations from his nearest rival Dr Abdullah. Mr Karzai has been under pressure from the international community to allow the investigation into fraud claims to run its course - a process that could take weeks. But the recount of votes at 10% of the country's polling station could have a massive impact on the outcome of this election. If the incumbent's support drops below an outright majority, he will have to face a run-off. Despite this, the Afghan leader's campaign team are confident of victory - with one official saying only a "miracle" can stop President Karzai winning in the first round.

He accepted there were some government officials who were "partial" to his candidacy, and others who supported his chief rival, the former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.

"That's something that we understand and we must accept for now until Afghanistan grows further into a more stable state structure, into a more bureaucratised civil service and into a more apolitical institutionalised civil and military service in the country," he said.

But he said any fraud during the 20 August election "wasn't that big".

"If there was fraud, it was small - it happens all over the world," he said.

He added that any allegations of fraud should be investigated "fairly and without prejudice".

Mr Karzai told reporters there had been overwhelmingly negative press coverage of the election, which was unfair on the Afghans who braved the violence to turn out and vote.

"Almost half of the country was under attack, hundreds of rockets came on election sites all over the country, but people even then came out and voted," he said.

"That's what I'm seeking, a respect for that day, a respect for the bravery of the Afghan people to come and vote." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8260303.stm>

More than 80 people have been killed in an air raid on a camp for displaced people in northern Yemen, reports say.

According to witnesses, many of those killed in the raid - which took place near the border with Saudi Arabia - were women, children and old people.

Government forces have been trying to contain a growing insurgency in the area by Shia rebels known as Houthis.

Fighting has intensified since the Yemeni army launched an operation targeting the rebels in mid-August.

One witness told AFP news agency that the attack happened as displaced families gathered beneath trees in the Adi area, in Amran province.

Fleeing fighting

An official said that the rebels had been shooting from the area ahead of the attack, which reports say happened on Wednesday.

"The jet fighter targeted rebels who were firing while hiding among the displaced people," said the official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

Houthi rebels say they want greater autonomy and a greater role for their version of Shia Islam, complain that their community is discriminated against and accuse the government of being corrupt and too aligned with the US and Saudi Arabia.

The government accuses them of seeking to overthrow it and impose Shia religious law.

The rebel fighters - drawn from the country's Zaidi Shia minority - are followers of Shia cleric, Hussein al-Houthi, who was killed in 2004.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis have fled the fighting in the north, cramming into makeshift camps, schools and barns, as aid groups struggle to get supplies to them.

The government is also battling secessionists in the south and has been criticised by the US for its failure to tackle al-Qaeda militants in the east and pirates off the coast. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8260414.stm>

UK and other Nato forces in southern Afghanistan do not have time on their side, the British general soon to take charge of troops in the area has said.

Maj Gen Nick Carter, who will take charge of 45,000 troops in six weeks, said there was an opportunity to "make a difference" in the next year.

But he said without the "luxury" of time, forces needed to show "positive trends" as quickly as possible.

"We can't be everywhere. We've... got to focus on achievable objectives."

He added: "And I think security where we know the population is living, freedom of movement on the key highways - that means the Afghan economy can start to kickstart itself, and that people can begin to take a stake in their community - is the way in which we will achieve success." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8262153.stm>

By Lyse Doucet BBC News, Wardak province

Sometimes, war comes down to the sunglasses.

Lt Chuck Anderson carefully removes his, as well as the bulky helmet that also obscures his face. He extracts his own wire rimmed glasses from somewhere inside his body armour as drops of sweat trickle down his head in the blazing heat of the day.

The face of 24-year-old Chuck from America emerges, beaming a big smile at white bearded Haji Rahmatullah and a gaggle of curious Afghan children who scurry to the apple orchard to inspect the strangers in camouflage gear.

The rest of the American patrol take up positions along the stream meandering through the picturesque village of Tesha in Wardak province, just west of Kabul.

'Decisive terrain'

Lt Anderson is one of the many faces of the new military mantra in Afghanistan. And that's the point - it's face to face as soldiers from foreign armies try to win over the population.

From foot soldiers living closer to Afghan villages, to the general now heading the command, everyone seems to be talking about counter-insurgency.

The new approach comes eight years into a war that's costing a growing number of Afghan and foreign lives and costing public support in Afghanistan and in nations supplying the troops.

"The war is about the people. If you think of decisive terrain, it's not a hill, it's not a town, it's not a road. It's the people themselves," Nato commander Gen Stanley McChrystal explained in a recent interview in Kabul.

On the wall facing his desk in his wood panelled office, Gen McChrystal has a photograph from the latest major offensive by American and British troops in Helmand province.

He proudly points to the scene after a major battle: "There was no visible damage to the area, no civilian casualties."

Gen McChrystal vows to measure success not by the number of insurgents killed or captured, but by the numbers of Afghans that are protected. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8261612.stm>

Nato's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called for a new strategic partnership with Russia.

In his first major foreign policy address as Nato chief, Mr Rasmussen called for a "joint review" with Moscow of global security challenges.

He was speaking in Brussels the day after the US announced it was shelving plans for controversial missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The former Danish prime minister took over as Nato's head in August.

"I would like Russia and Nato to agree to carry out a joint review of the new 21st Century security challenges, to serve as a firm basis for our future co-operation," said Mr Rasmussen.

"We should explore the potential for linking the US, Nato and Russia missile defence systems at an appropriate time."

He added that there should be more co-operation over policy on Afghanistan, which was important for both Nato and Russia.

He said that tackling the proliferation of ballistic missile technology was in the fundamental strategic interests of both Nato and Russia.

He called on Moscow for a "genuine new beginning in our relationship, in our own interests and that of the entire international community". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8262515.stm>

By Kevin Connolly BBC News, Washington

It would be hard to invent a news story that tied together more strategic and political issues than the Obama administration's decision to change its stance on the deployment of a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe.

It touches on Washington's assessment of Iran's military capabilities.

There is an underlying assumption that Tehran's capacity for mounting warheads on long-range missiles does not pose an immediate strategic headache.

It also sends a signal to the peoples of Central Europe about how President Barack Obama proposes to manage the post Cold-War order in their neck of the woods in the next few years.

And it raises questions about the administration's much talked-about desire to "hit the re-set" button on its relationship with Russia. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8261630.stm>

Lawyers for Burma's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi are appealing against her 18-month house arrest extension.

Ms Suu Kyi is not being allowed to appear in court in person. Official media have been defending the decision.

Separately, Human Rights Watch has reported that the number of political prisoners in Burma has doubled in two years, to 2,200.

The military regime has been marking 21 years in its current form by claiming the release of 7,000 prisoners.

Prison releases in the past have been used to free non-political prisoners and are often accompanied or followed by increased arrests of political and other prisoners.

Burma's generals are planning elections next year that will be a sham if their opponents are in prison Tom Malinowski, Human Rights Watch

Aung San Suu Kyi's detention was extended after she was convicted of breaching security laws by allowing an uninvited US man into her home.

Ms Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention. The latest sentence has drawn international condemnation, and means she cannot take part in elections next year.

Appeals have also been filed on behalf of two of the opposition leader's companions, who were convicted on similar charges, her lawyers added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8262175.stm>

The Chief Minister of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati has warned of violence if statues of her and her mentors are demolished.

Mayawati said opposition parties would be held "responsible" for attempts at destroying the statues.

Last week, India's Supreme Court ordered her government to stop building the statues.

Ms Mayawati, a low-caste Dalit - formerly "untouchable" - is an icon for India's 160 million low-caste Hindus.

She is accused of self-glorification by her critics. But she accuses her opponents of conspiring against her.

Ms Mayawati said the Congress party was "anti Dalits" and that the party had spent a lot of money building memorials in the name of its Nehru-Gandhi leaders.

She accused the Congress and the main opposition Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh of indulging in "malicious and mischievous propaganda."

Uttar Pradesh is one of India's most deprived states, with a high crime rate and poor health services.

Ms Mayawati's spending on statues and memorials has been described as "shameful" by India's Home Minister P Chidambaram.

In May she unveiled 15 new memorials, including two of herself.

Statues of political leaders are generally put up posthumously, but Ms Mayawati says that belief is outdated. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8262208.stm>

By Peter Greste BBC News, Kampala

The royal riot that left 20 Ugandans dead and 50 injured last week seems to expose the tension between state control and the ambitions of the traditional Buganda kingdom.

The violence erupted when supporters of the king were angered by an attempt by the government to stop their cultural leader from attending a youth ceremony in a district near the capital, where the local community is trying to break away from his rule.

The authorities feared violence and refused to allow King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II to attend.

The protest quickly degenerated into an all-out riot. Hundreds of the king's supporters rampaged through the middle of Kampala, setting up burning barricades, looting shops and fighting running battles with police.

The police responded with tear gas and live ammunition.

By the time the authorities regained control and the king agreed to postpone the ceremony, the rioting had exposed a deep undercurrent of anger and frustration. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8260130.stm>

Climate change protesters have dumped a pile of horse manure at the home of Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson in a protest about vehicle emissions.

Six women stood by the dung in the drive of his home in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, with a sign that read: "This is what you're landing us in."

The protesters from direct action group Climate Rush said they were being as "blasé as him" about emissions.

Clarkson made no comment and Thames Valley Police said no-one was arrested.

Horse-drawn cart

Police were called to the presenter's home at about 1145 BST after reports that a group of women dressed as suffragettes, three camera crews and a few members of the press were in the grounds of his house.

A wheel barrow load of manure from a horse-drawn cart was dumped in Clarkson's driveway.

Protester Deborah Grayson said: "Just as he's ever so blasé about his CO2 and how much he's contributing to climate change emissions, we're a little bit blasé about our horse manure."

Sgt Mark Smith, from Thames Valley Police, said the women, camera crews and press had left the property by the time the officers arrived.

He said no complaints had been lodged against the protesters.

It is not known if Clarkson was home at the time of the protest. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/8261287.stm>

Scotland's most senior prosecutor has condemned a fresh move by the Lockerbie bomber to protest his innocence.

Hundreds of pages of documents relating to an appeal by Abdelbaset al-Megrahi against his conviction for the 1988 bombing have been put on a new website.

But Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini said Megrahi had abandoned his appeal before his release on compassionate grounds.

She said she deplored his actions and a court was the only appropriate forum for determining guilt or innocence.

She also criticised Libyan Megrahi's attempt to challenge his conviction though "selective publication of his view of the evidence in the media".

Scottish public

Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was released from prison in Scotland in August and returned to Libya.

Before his release, he had been planning a second appeal against his conviction for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people.

Publishing details of his abandoned appeal, he said: "I will do everything in my power to persuade the public, and in particular the Scottish public, of my innocence."

However, Ms Angiolini, who is responsible for prosecutions in Scotland, said: "The only appropriate forum for the determination of guilt or innocence is the criminal court.

"Mr Megrahi was convicted unanimously by three senior judges following trial and his conviction was upheld unanimously by five judges, in an Appeal Court presided over by the Lord Justice General, Scotland's most senior judge.

"Mr Megrahi remains convicted of the worst terrorist atrocity in UK history."

She said the Crown had been "ready, willing and able" to argue the case for his conviction in the appeal which Megrahi had abandoned.

"As he and his legal team have made clear, the decision to discontinue the appeal proceedings was taken voluntarily by Mr Megrahi himself," she said.

"Having done so, he now seeks to retry his case in the media and criticise the evidence against him."

The SCCRC considered that failure to disclose this information, of itself, may have resulted in a miscarriage of justice Megrahi documnets

Megrahi was serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years after being convicted in 2001.

His release by Scotland`s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill triggered an international controversy, sparking outrage among the relatives of US victims.

But there has been a long-running campaign, supported by some British relatives of victims, to have his conviction overturned.

The documents published by Megrahi relate to the grounds of appeal which were argued at the appeal court in Edinburgh between April 28 and May 19.

They set out some of the reasons why the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case to the Appeal Court, along with additional arguments.

These include the way in which identification evidence was obtained from a Maltese shopkeeper, Tony Gauci.

They also include what the defence papers describe as "significant failures" by the Crown to disclose information about the identification evidence and about Mr Gauci.

Mr Gauci picked out Megrahi as the man who bought clothes later found in the suitcase that contained the bomb.

The third set of appeal grounds also relate - according to the documents - to undisclosed information for which the UK Government had sought public interest immunity from disclosure.

"The SCCRC considered that failure to disclose this information, of itself, may have resulted in a miscarriage of justice and this was one of the reasons for referring the case back to the Appeal Court," said the documents. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/8264119.stm>

Athletics South Africa's president Leonard Chuene has apologised for denying knowledge of gender tests conducted on runner Caster Semenya.

The tests were carried out in South Africa in August but Chuene said he wanted to protect Semenya's privacy.

Semenya has been the focus of attention since she won the 800m world title last month and the sport's governing body, the IAAF, ordered fresh gender tests.

"I felt I was acting in the best interests of Semenya," said Chuene.

"I believed at the time my consistent denials would help protect her. "I have however realised that it was an error of judgment and that I could have been more forthcoming with this information, even if it was difficult." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/8261566.stm>

By Emma Wilkinson BBC News health reporter

Reports suggest that gender tests on 800m world champion Caster Semenya have shown both male and female characteristics.

The results are still to be examined by a team of experts and it is likely to be a few weeks before the IAAF confirms the reports or announces further detail.

The delay highlights the complexity involved in diagnosing intersex conditions, an umbrella term for a wide range of developmental differences in the reproductive and sexual systems in the body.

How do you define sex?

Peter Bowen-Simpkins, spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and an expert in these conditions, explains there are four types of sex.

There is your phenotype, which is what you look like, your psychological sex, which is what you feel like and which usually the same as your phenotype and related to how you have been brought up.

There is also your gonadal sex which is whether you have ovaries or testicles and your chromosomal sex which is what combination of x or y chromosomes you have.

It is the chromosomes that direct, through the production of hormones, the development of a baby in the womb down a male or female route.

A diagnosis of an intersex condition is not just based on anatomy but is dependent on genetic, hormonal and other factors.

The World Health Organisation points out that gender is a social construct.

When people refer to gender testing, what they are really talking about is biological sex.

A person's view of their gender may be different from the biological sex assigned to them.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8250609.stm>

Nigeria's government is asking cinemas to stop showing a science fiction film, District Nine, that it says denigrates the country's image.

Information Minister Dora Akunyili told the BBC's Network Africa programme that she had asked the makers of the film, Sony, for an apology.

She says the film portrays Nigerians as cannibals, criminals and prostitutes.

An actor from the film said that it was not just Nigerians who were portrayed as villains.

The Malawian actor, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, plays a gang leader with the nickname of Obasanjo, also the surname of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The film is about alien refugees who set up home in a South African shanty town called District Nine.

It is a loose allegory about apartheid and recent violence by South Africans against foreigners.

It's not like Nigerians do eat aliens Actor Eugene Khumbanyiwa

Ms Akunyili said it clearly took aim at Nigerians.

"We feel very bad about this because the film clearly denigrated Nigeria's image by portraying us as if we are cannibals, we are criminals," she said.

"The name our former president was clearly spelt out as the head of the criminal gang and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8264180.stm>

Seven former heads of the CIA have written to President Obama urging him to end the inquiry into allegations of abuse of suspects held by the agency.

The US Attorney General Eric Holder last month named a prosecutor to examine whether the CIA had gone beyond approved interrogation methods.

The letter to Mr Obama said the investigation would hamper intelligence operations.

The White House did not immediately respond.

The former CIA chiefs, who served Republican and Democratic Presidents, said the cases had already been investigated during the Bush administration and lawyers had declined to prosecute in all but one.

FORMER CIA DIRECTORS 1973 James Schlesinger 1987-91 William Webster 1993-95 James Woolsey 1995-96 John Deutsch 1997-04 George Tenet 2004-05 Porter Goss 2006-09 Michael Hayden

"This approach will seriously damage the willingness of intelligence officers to take risks to protect the country," the letter read.

"In our judgment, such risk-taking is vital to success in the long and difficult fight against terrorists who continue to threaten us."

President Obama has stated that he wants to look beyond the Bush administration, which human rights groups have accused of using torture to gain information from suspects in violation of US and international law. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8264387.stm>

Turkmenistan has remained largely closed to the world since its independence from Soviet rule in 1991. The BBC's Rayhan Demytrie took advantage of a Silk Road car rally to see the country.

Welcome to Turkmenistan: "Passports, please. Put your bags on the scales," said a bossy customs officer at Ashgabad's airport.

This was our fourth passport check since arriving at what is officially called Saparmurat Turkmenbashi International airport.

But his expression soon changed.

"Oh... journalists, here for the rally? Welcome to Turkmenistan!" he said with a broad smile.

Turkmenistan is Central Asia's most isolated country. But it has been hosting an event the government wanted to publicise.

The Silk Way Rally was a week-long car race of professionals and amateurs beginning in Kazan in Russia, winding its way through the Kazakh steppe and into the deserts of Turkmenistan.

It was an opportunity for natural gas-rich Turkmenistan to show how well it is doing - and for journalists it was a rare chance to visit a state that has been largely closed to the outside world. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8262268.stm>

Analysis By Michael Elleman International Institute of Strategic Studies

The Obama administration's decision to postpone deployment of a missile shield in Eastern Europe in favour of proven regional missile defence systems will provide better protection against Iran's current and near-future capabilities.

Obama's new strategy also contains the flexibility needed to respond to future Iranian missile developments should they emerge.

The technologies behind the longer-range missile defence complex are not yet mature, and may not have worked as promised

The missile defence system proposed by the Bush administration, which relies on a farm of interceptor missiles stationed in Poland and an advanced radar in the Czech Republic, is designed primarily to protect the continental United States and Western Europe from intercontinental and intermediate range ballistic missiles that Iran may one day develop.

The Eastern Europe-based system, however, could not defend south-eastern Europe, Turkey and Israel from the threats posed by Iran's current ballistic missile arsenal.

Moreover, the technologies behind the longer-range missile defence complex are not yet mature, and may not have worked as promised without upgrades to the X-band radar and additional development and testing.

These two shortfalls - unproven intercept capacity and the inability of the Bush-era architecture to defend against Iran's currently deployed medium-range Shahab-3 missile - apparently drove the Obama administration to shift strategy. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8264028.stm>

The Iranian president's latest denial of the Nazi Holocaust has drawn strong condemnation from Western powers.

Speaking in the capital, Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust was "a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim".

Germany said the comments were a "disgrace to his country" while the US said they would "isolate Iran further".

Mr Ahmadinejad made the remarks at an annual rally where opposition supporters clashed with police.

Reformists, who have been banned from holding demonstrations since disputed presidential elections in June, defied warnings not to use the pro-Palestinian Quds (Jerusalem) Day marches to stage protests.

'Unacceptable and shocking'

As part of the Quds Day events, President Ahmadinejad delivered a speech in which he repeated previous assertions that the Holocaust was a lie.

Promoting those vicious lies serves only to isolate Iran further from the world Robert Gibbs White House press secretary Clashes show unresolved Iran crisis Iran eyewitness: Protest videos In pictures: Tehran rallies

"The pretext [the Holocaust] for the creation of the Zionist regime [Israel] is false," he told worshippers at Tehran university.

"It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim."

In reaction, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs cited President Barack Obama's assertion in a speech to the Muslim world that "denying the Holocaust is baseless, ignorant and hateful".

"Promoting those vicious lies serves only to isolate Iran further from the world," Mr Gibbs said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "This sheer anti-Semitism demands our collective condemnation.

"We will continue to confront it decisively in the future."

A French foreign ministry spokesman called the remarks "unacceptable and shocking", while British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the denial was "abhorrent as well as ignorant".

"It is very important that the world community stands up against this tide of abuse," Mr Miliband said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8264111.stm>

President Barack Obama will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Tuesday to try to relaunch peace talks.

Mr Obama will hold separate talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, before a joint meeting.

Efforts to restart the peace process have so far been blocked by disagreements over Israeli settlements.

A senior US official told the BBC that there was no expectation of an announcement after Tuesday's meetings.

He said the meetings are "clear sign of the President's personal commitment to this issue."

But he added that it was critical to put the discussions "in context".

"Nine months ago there was a war in Gaza," he said. "The Israeli government has only existed for five months.

"And now these three leaders are going to sit down in the same room and continue to narrow the gaps."

Mr Netenyahu's office issued a statement welcoming the invitation to talks and saying they would be held "without preconditions", Reuters news agency reported. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8265141.stm>

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has rejected the claim that a decision to shelve a plan for missile defence in Europe was a concession to Russia.

Writing in the New York Times, Mr Gates said Russia's attitude "played no part" in his recommendation to President Barack Obama to drop the plan.

Mr Gates said the aim was to deal with potential threats from Iran.

A new system will be able to provide such a defence sooner and more effectively, he said.

Under the original plan, the US signed a deal in August 2008 with Poland to site 10 interceptors at a base near the Baltic Sea, and with the Czech Republic to build a radar station on its territory.

Russia, which had always seen that plan as a threat, welcomed the decision to abandon it.

However, there has been criticism of the decision in conservative circles in the US. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8265190.stm>

Fighting in Yemen is reported to be continuing despite a conditional ceasefire called by the government in its conflict with northern Shia rebels.

The government had called the ceasefire to coincide with the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The UN has appealed to both sides to allow humanitarian corridors to be opened so that aid can be delivered to those displaced by the fighting.

About 150,000 people have been displaced in the five-year conflict.

On Saturday, statements from both the military and the rebels accused the other side of continuing attacks in spite of the ceasefire.

The combat area has been cut off from journalists, and correspondents say it has been hard to verify conflicting reports from both sides. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8265134.stm>

Police in Pakistan say they have raided the offices of a private security firm hired by the US embassy in Islamabad.

The offices of the Inter-Risk company were entered and around 70 weapons were seized and two personnel arrested.

Officials in Pakistan allege that the haul of 61 assault riffles, nine pistols and ammunition were unlicensed.

It follows allegations that the US is using the security firm once known as Blackwater. The US embassy in Islamabad denies it has any contract with them.

The media in Pakistan have reported that the US embassy in Islamabad was involved in hiring the firm Xe services, formerly known as Blackwater, a company which was embroiled in allegations of civilian killings while hired to protect US diplomats in Iraq.

A spokesman for the US embassy, Rick Snelsire, has confirmed a contract with Inter-Risk exists and said that "It is our understanding they [Inter-Risk] obtained licenses [for] whatever they brought into the country to meet their contractual needs."

The US has denied it uses Xe services in Pakistan.

A senior police official, Rana Akram, said that two Inter-Risk employees were detained and are being questioned. They were now seeking the company's owner, a retired Pakistani army captain, the official added.

Police have denied any connection between the raid on Inter-Risk and the US embassy, but said they were working to protect foreigners living in the Islamabad and increasing vigilance ahead of the Muslim feast which marks the end of Ramadan. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8265042.stm>

By Paul Adams BBC News, Washington

Anyone who thought that "values voters" were still licking their wounds after the Republican Party received a drubbing at the polls might have found the atmosphere in Washington's plush Omni Shoreham Hotel rather surprising.

An audience of 2,000 Christian conservatives gathered to listen to their political and media icons, condemn the Obama administation's alleged socialist agenda and plot the downfall of the Democrats at the 2010 mid-term elections.

The mood was angry and defiant at the annual "Values Voters Summit", which kicked off with a rousing call to arms from Republican Congressman Mike Pence, from Indiana, a man some see as a future presidential candidate.

He spoke of a "great American awakening", while another Congressman, Tom Price of Georgia, spoke of lighting "brushfires of freedom", to roars of excited approval from the floor. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8264516.stm>

The man known as the "godfather of neoconservatism", Irving Kristol, has died from lung cancer at the age of 89.

Mr Kristol rejected the communist beliefs of his youth to become a leading right-wing thinker and writer.

His ideas had a huge influence on the Bush administration and in 2002 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W Bush.

The magazine edited by his son William Kristol, The Weekly Standard, paid tribute to his "wisdom" and "wit".

It added that his "generosity of spirit made him a friend and mentor to several generations of thinkers and public servants". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8264260.stm>

Teenage boys who get into trouble with the law may have difficulty interpreting social cues in others, say researchers.

A Japanese study of young offenders found they more frequently mistook facial expressions of disgust for anger than their peers.

Researchers said the misinterpretation might lead them to see a situation as more hostile than it was.

One UK expert said the ability to read facial expressions was "fundamental".

The team showed photos of faces expressing six basic emotions to 24 incarcerated young men and the same number of youths who had not been in trouble with the law.

Misrecognising an expression may lead to incorrectly feeling threatened and even to antisocial behaviour Professor Karen Pine, University of Hertfordshire

The participants were asked to match each face with an emotion - anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, or surprise.

Analysis showed the delinquent youths were more likely to mistake disgust for anger than their peers.

Writing in the journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, the researchers said it was the first real evidence that young offenders may have trouble distinguishing between disgust and anger.

But it supports previous work that showed children with conduct problems tend to perceive other emotions as anger.

And it has also been shown that juvenile delinquents often have short tempers and experience more intense anger than other children. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8261491.stm>

By Emma Jane Kirby BBC News, Paris

It has all the makings of a blockbuster political thriller, but if the Clearstream case was fiction then surely any editor reviewing the manuscript would send it back to the author with the comments: "plot too complicated and story line a little far fetched."

The gist of the story is more or less this:

A pair of ambitious and rival ministers are fighting for a chance to win the French presidency.

The two men could not be more different - Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, a suave ex-diplomat and poet from a high-class family who fits perfectly into the French political elite, and then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, an outspoken, ambitious man, with Hungarian ancestry, intent on shaking up the established system.

Mr de Villepin is the darling, the "chou chou", of President Jacques Chirac and his chosen successor - he is the man who charmed the United Nations with his eloquent defence of France's refusal to join the war in Iraq in 2003 with the words: "We are the guardians of an ideal, the guardians of a conscience."

Mr Sarkozy, on the other hand is a cunning lawyer and businessman, a pro-American who has declared war on the "riff raff" and "scum" in France's downtrodden suburbs.

He's the man Mr de Villepin is known to refer to in private as "that dwarf". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8266018.stm>

By Brian Hanrahan BBC News

Mikhail Gorbachev is remarkably serene about his record as the last leader of the Soviet Union.

He says he expected a different outcome, but he would do it all over again.

It was Mr Gorbachev's policies that sparked the 1989 revolutions which swept away communism in Eastern Europe.

But Russia, too, went through a metamorphosis - and after the loss of the Soviet empire two years later, it was the Soviet Union itself that fell apart.

The result is that for many Russians, Mr Gorbachev's years in the Kremlin remain bitterly contentious. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8265117.stm>

Attorney General Baroness Scotland has been fined £5,000 after being found to have employed a housekeeper who was not legally allowed to work in the UK.

The UK Border Agency said she took steps to check Tongan Loloahi Tapui's right to work but had not kept a copy of documents, as required by law.

Opposition parties say her position is "untenable" but No 10 said it was an "inadvertent" mistake.

She apologised for the "technical breach" and said she accepted the fine.

Bitterly sorry

Baroness Scotland, the government's chief legal adviser who oversees criminal prosecutions in England and Wales, helped take the legislation on employing illegal workers through Parliament when she was a Home Office minister.

In a statement she said she fully accepted that she had made a "technical breach of the rules" and apologised for "this inadvertent error".

I did believe the woman that I employed was honest, and honourable and entitled to be here Baroness Scotland Analysis: Will she stay? Read Nick Robinson's thoughts

She told BBC News: "I have been given an administrative penalty. This is not a case of a criminal act, this is the case of failing to photocopy a document which I absolutely accept was wrong and I have apologised for that wholeheartedly.

"This was a woman who was working locally, she was married to a solicitor. I believed the documents that I saw on their face value.

She added: "I did believe the woman that I employed was honest, and honourable and entitled to be here. That was a flaw and I have therefore absolutely accepted that for this technical breach, administrative breach I should be penalised." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8268101.stm>

Honduran security forces have broken up protests outside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa in support of deposed President Manuel Zelaya, reports say.

Police surrounded the embassy, where Mr Zelaya is staying, and the scene is now said to be calm.

Protesters defied a curfew set after Mr Zelaya's surprise return on Monday.

He had been in exile since being thrown out of Honduras on 28 June. Interim leader Roberto Micheletti has insisted Mr Zelaya should face trial.

The confrontation between protesters and police took place in the early morning local time, reports said, and police are now said to be in control of the area.

Police fired tear gas at the protesters and at least two tear-gas canisters landed inside the embassy compound, said a photographer for Reuters news agency who was at the scene.

Inside the embassy, Mr Zelaya accused police of preparing an attack.

"The embassy is surrounded by police and the military... I foresee bigger acts of aggression and violence, that they could be capable of even invading the Brazilian embassy," he told Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur, according to Reuters.

But a police spokesman said force had to be used to disperse the protesters, and that the curfew remained in effect until Tuesday evening.

A protest leader, Juan Barahona, alleged that police had used live rounds, but this was denied by the interim deputy foreign minister, Martha Lorena Alvarado.

Mr Micheletti has demanded that the deposed leader be handed over to face trial, saying Brazil will be held responsible for any violence.

In addition to the curfew, airports have been shut and roadblocks set up on highways leading into Tegucigalpa. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8269073.stm>

Declining financial skills are detectable in patients in the year before they develop Alzheimer's, according to US researchers.

The researchers say this could be a useful indicator for doctors supporting people with memory problems.

Previous studies have shown that problems with daily activities often precede the onset of Alzheimer's.

But charities said most people having trouble working out figures should not be alarmed by the study. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8262388.stm>

Torture techniques used on suspected terrorists by the Bush administration may have failed to get to the truth, researchers say.

Professor Shane O'Mara of Trinity College, Dublin, said the interrogation techniques had a detrimental effect on brain functions related to memory.

He listed 10 methods of what he called torture used by the US, including stress positions and waterboarding.

His review is published in the journal, Trends in Cognitive Science.

'Lack of control'

Professor O'Mara said US Department of Justice memos released in April showed that the Americans believed that prolonged periods of shock, anxiety, disorientation and lack of control were more effective than standard interrogation in extracting the truth.

He said: "This is based on the assumption that subjects will be motivated to reveal truthful information to end interrogation, and that extreme stress, shock and anxiety do not impact on memory.

Techniques used by US Walling - captive is placed with heels touching the wall and is pulled away and pushed back into it with force Wall standing - captive stands four to five feet from wall with fingertips supporting all the body weight to induce muscle fatigue Cramped confinement - captive place in small box in darkness for up to two hours, in a larger box for up to 18 hours Sleep deprivation - captive is deprived of sleep for up to 11 days Stress positions - captive sits on floor with legs straight out in front and arms raised above head or is made to kneel on the floor while leaning back at a 45 degree angle Waterboarding - captive is bound head down on an inclined bench with a cloth over the eyes. Water is applied to the cloth for 20 to 40 seconds at a time inducing fast breathing and perception of drowning

"However this model of the impact of extreme stress on memory and the brain is utterly unsupported by scientific evidence."

He said studies of extreme stress with special forces soldiers had found that their recall of previously learned information was impaired afterwards.

"Waterboarding in particular is an extreme stressor and has the potential to elicit widespread stress-induced changes in the brain."

Professor O'Mara said contemporary neuroscientific models of human memory showed that the hippocampus and prefrontal cortices of the brain were very important.

The stress hormone, cortisol, binds to receptors in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex increasing neuronal excitability which compromises the normal functioning of the brain if it is sustained.

And other stress hormones called catecholamines could lead to an increase in blood pressure and heart rate which could cause long-term damage to the brain and body if they were maintained at a high level for a long time. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8267633.stm>

The US government has said it does not want to punish Scotland for releasing the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbasset al-Megrahi.

The US state department told the BBC's Newsnight Scotland it was "looking to move on" from the row.

Megrahi, who is terminally ill, was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds last month.

The release of the only man convicted of the 1988 airliner bombing, sparked outrage in the US.

Many of the 270 victims of the atrocity were from the US.

Before the release of Megrahi, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said it would be "absolutely wrong" to allow Megrahi to return to Libya.

She phoned the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to tell him so.

The administration of US president Obama has now said there will be no "tit for tat" retaliation against Scotland.

State department spokesman Ian Kelly described America and Scotland as "very close allies".

He accepted Mr MacAskill's "right to do what he did" and promised continued co-operation with Scotland.

An aide to First Minister Alex Salmond said the statement was "very welcome" recognition of the strong relationship between the two countries. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8267965.stm>

Closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay is not America's only detainee dilemma. They still have thousands of prisoners at two large detention centres in Iraq.

Until this week, there were three. But now, Camp Bucca - once by far the largest American internment camp in Iraq - has closed. The BBC's Hugh Sykes visited Bucca on its last day.

Since the invasion in 2003, US forces have detained more than 100,000 people, most of them at Camp Bucca, far out in the desert near the Iraqi border with Kuwait.

It was officially known as a "Tif" - Theater Internment Facility. It was named after a New York fire marshall, Ron Bucca, who died in the 11 September attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

When it was established, it consisted of just a few tents surrounded by three layers of razor wire fencing.

But Bucca grew and grew, and at the height of the insurgency, 22,000 prisoners were held here.

Arriving at Bucca in a US helicopter, the size of the camp is surprising. It looks like a small town, with grid-pattern streets.

But as the helicopter gets closer, you can make out rows and rows of huts, compounds and watchtowers. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8266293.stm>

Lawyers for the former French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, say they will sue President Nicolas Sarkozy for having called him "guilty".

Mr Sarkozy is accused of violating the principle of presumption of innocence.

Mr de Villepin, an arch-rival of Mr Sarkozy, went on trial on Monday over the so-called "Clearstream" affair.

It is alleged that Mr de Villepin tried to manipulate a judicial investigation to hurt Mr Sarkozy's chances of winning the 2007 presidential election.

Asked for a comment on the trial, Mr Sarkozy told French television on Wednesday: "After a two-year investigation, two independent investigating judges ruled that the guilty parties should be tried before a criminal court."

Correspondents say that, as president, Mr Sarkozy enjoys immunity from prosecution, but that the defence team may use the "guilty" comment to bolster an appeal on behalf of Mr de Villepin. They could argue that Mr Sarkozy is using political influence to pervert the course of justice.

"This is a scandalous violation of fundamental principles," said defence lawyer Henri Leclerc. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8274314.stm>

By Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent

Security and intelligence experts are deeply worried by a new development in suicide bombing, the BBC has learned.

It has emerged that an al-Qaeda bomber who died last month while trying to blow up a Saudi prince in Jeddah had hidden the explosives inside his body.

Only the attacker died, but it is feared that the new development could be copied by others.

Experts say it could have implications for airport security, rendering traditional metal detectors "useless".

Last month's bombing left people wondering how one of the most wanted al-Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia could get so close to the prince in charge of counter-terrorism that he was able to blow himself up in the same room.

Western forensic investigators think they have the answer, and it is worrying them profoundly.

Peter Neuman of Kings College London says the case will be studied intensively, and that there are "tremendous implications for airport security with the potential of making it even more complicated to get on to your plane".

"If it really is true that the metal detectors couldn't detect this person's hidden explosive device, that would mean that the metal detectors as they currently exist in airports are pretty much useless," he said.

The bomber was a Saudi al-Qaeda fugitive who said he wanted to give himself up to the prince in person.

The prince took him at his word and gave him safe passage to his palace.

But there, once he got next to his target, the bomb inside him was detonated.

Miraculously the prince survived with minor injuries, but footage emerging this week shows a sizeable crater in the concrete floor and the bomber's body blown in half.

It is believed the force of the blast went downwards which is why only the bomber died. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8276016.stm>

The Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, has spoken to some of the relatives of the victims of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

In an upcoming interview with CNN television, Col Gaddafi said the meeting had been "friendly" and that he had offered his "condolences".

Libya has already formally accepted responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and paid reparations.

Col Gaddafi told CNN that terrorism was "a common enemy to all of us".

'Cordial'

During the pre-recorded interview, he compared the Lockerbie bombing to the US bombing raid on Libya in 1986, which killed around 40 people including Col Gaddafi's adopted daughter, Hannah.

He [Col Gaddafi] said he was sorry for the loss Lisa Gibson Lockerbie victim's relative

"Whether it is Lockerbie or whether it is the 1986 raid against Libya, we are all families... terror in all its forms is a common enemy to all of us," the Libyan leader said, in a publicly released excerpt.

One of the victim's relatives who met Col Gaddafi said "he was very friendly and cordial to us", the Associated Press reports.

Lisa Gibson, an attorney from Colorado whose brother died in the Pan Am attack, said the meeting took place on Wednesday at the Libyan mission to the UN.

"He [Col Gaddafi] said he was sorry for the loss, but we didn't go into any details," Ms Gibson was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

"Honestly, I think he was touched by us being there," Ms Gibson said.

On Wednesday, Col Gaddafi's addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York - in what was his first appearance there.

Many senior figures within the US have been highly critical of the release and subsequent homecoming arranged by Libya for the convicted Pan Am bomber, Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi.

Meghrani, who has terminal prostate cancer, was freed from a Scottish prison last month on compassionate grounds. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8276047.stm>

Two mass graves connected to Colombia's decades-long internal conflict have been found, officials say.

They say one grave, containing the bodies of 17 peasants, was discovered in a ranch in the north-west belonging to a late far-right militia leader.

The armed forces chief announced the discovery of a second mass grave, which he said held the remains of 16 left-wing Farc guerrillas, in the south.

The Farc have been fighting the Colombian government since the 1960s.

The peasants' bodies were found on a ranch that belonged to paramilitary leader Carlos Castano, who was killed in 2004.

The victims are believed to have been tortured and killed 10 to 12 years ago.

Right-wing militias began demobilising in 2005 under a peace pact with the government.

In the south, the rebel mass grave was discovered near La Uribe, a traditional stronghold of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), Gen Freddy Padilla announced.

He added that the Farc fighters had died in fighting in July, and that the bodies recovered included that of a nephew of senior Farc commander Jorge Briceno. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8276038.stm>

Three Palestinian militants have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip, officials say.

A military spokesman said the men were members of the militant group Islamic Jihad and were behind recent rocket attacks in the border town of Sderot.

The spokesman said they were killed as they prepared to launch further rockets into Israel from their vehicle.

Islamic Jihad say the men belonged to their group but were not on a rocket launching mission.

Israel carried out an offensive in December and January in the Gaza Strip which aimed to stop daily rocket attacks by militants on southern towns.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166.

Three Israeli civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers were also killed.

Since the end of the campaign, Gaza militants have fired about 300 mortars into Israel, the Israeli military said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8275973.stm>

By Cindy Sui BBC News, Taipei

As China prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, many people in Taiwan will not be celebrating what for them is the loss of a civil war.

They will instead see the event as a reminder of a major turning point in history that dramatically impacted their lives.

"This was a historical tragedy - Chinese people fighting Chinese people. So many lives were lost, so many families ruined. It's the biggest shame of Chinese people," said Huang Shih-chung, an 84-year-old retired general who fought in the war against the Communists for the Nationalist side.

"I really hope... Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will not forget the lives lost."

Outside mainland China, Taiwan is the place most directly affected by Communist China's founding on 1 October 1949.

The Nationalist or Kuomintang (KMT) army led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island after its defeat by Communist troops.

About two million refugees from China, including hundreds of thousands of soldiers, fled to the island - changing its political, economic and social structure, and leaving behind a legacy still strong today. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8279841.stm>

The Ministry of Defence is investigating the death of a young Afghan girl who died after being hit by a box of leaflets dropped by the RAF.

The information leaflets were dropped in boxes from an RAF Hercules aircraft in Helmand province on 23 June.

The box failed to break apart in mid-air and landed on top of the girl who died later in hospital.

The MoD said it deeply regretted the "tragic incident", and a full investigation was under way.

A spokesman said the public information leaflets were dropped by the C130 Hercules in a rural area. The boxes are supposed to open in mid-air, scattering the leaflets over a wide area.

The unopened box seriously injured the girl who was treated at a local hospital in Kandahar.

"Despite the best efforts of staff, she died as a result of her injuries," the spokesman said.

Leaflet drops have been used extensively in Afghanistan by US and British forces in the battle to win the "hearts and minds" of the local population.

The MoD would not comment on what type of leaflet was involved, but past leaflets have included information about the election campaign, mine awareness campaigns, and warnings of impending military action in an area

In May, C130 aircraft based in Afghanistan with 904 Expeditionary Air Wing dropped 200,000 leaflets in support of the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8282067.stm>

The UN's main human rights watchdog has begun a debate on a damning report into Israel's military operation against Gaza eight months ago.

It is seen as a test of US engagement with the Human Rights Council, which was shunned by President George W Bush.

The US, which is Israel's main ally, has criticised elements of the report.

The report, widely lauded by human rights groups, accuses both Israel and its militant Palestinian adversary Hamas of war crimes in the campaign.

Presenting the full version of the report, lead investigator Richard Goldstone told delegates that a lack of accountability for war crimes had reached "crisis point" in the Middle East and undermined any hope for peace in the region.

He rejected what he called a "barrage of criticism" about his findings and public attacks against the members of his mission.

"We will not address these attacks as we believe that the answers to those who have criticised us are in the findings of the report," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8280181.stm>

A bone fragment believed to be part of Adolf Hitler's skull has been revealed as being that of an unidentified woman, US scientists have said.

The section of bone - marked with a bullet hole - was used to support the theory that Hitler shot himself.

Russian scientists said the skull piece was found alongside Hitler's jawbone and had put it on display in Moscow.

But US scientists said DNA tests revealed it actually belonged to a woman aged between 20 and 40.

An archaeologist from the University of Connecticut travelled to Moscow, where the fragment has been on show in the city's federal archive since 2000, to take a sample. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8281839.stm>

A senior UN official in Afghanistan is to be removed from his post following a row about the country's presidential election, the BBC has learned.

UN officials said Peter Galbraith had not been fired but would be removed from the mission.

Mr Galbraith, a US diplomat, denied the report, and the UN mission in Kabul says he is expected back.

Mr Galbraith angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai by reportedly calling for a complete recount of the vote.

Last week the top UN Afghan envoy, Kai Eide, said Mr Galbraith had left the country after a row between them.

But he denied he had ordered him to go.

UN sources say Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided to end Mr Galbraith's mission after it became clear he was no longer able to carry out his work in Afghanistan, says the BBC's Lyse Doucet.

Some Afghan cabinet ministers had said they no longer wanted to work with him. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8281934.stm>

President Jacob Zuma has backed proposed measures for South African police to use lethal force against armed criminals.

"We have an abnormal criminal problem, for that we have to explore extraordinary means," he told a meeting of 1,000 police station commanders.

The new law would allow police to shoot even if criminals have not fired first.

However, Mr Zuma said he was not encouraging a culture of trigger-happy police officers.

South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime. Some 50 people are murdered every day.

CRIME IN SOUTH AFRICA Up Sexual offences: 71,500 (10%) Burglaries: 18,400 (27%) Business robberies: 13,900 (41%) Down Murder: 18,000 (3%) Street robbery: 72,194 (7%) South African rapist: 'Forgive me'

Correspondents say President Zuma could be trying to calm fears that crime could be a problem at the 2010 football World Cup which South Africa is hosting.

"My thinking is that once a criminal takes out the gun, the intention is clear. The police must then act to protect himself or herself and the citizens," President Zuma said, drawing applause from the assembled police officers, reports the AFP news agency.

New crime figures were released last week, showing a slight fall in the murder rate.

But 18,000 people were still killed in the past year.

The figures showed a 10% rise in sexual offences and an increase in robberies.

The legacy of apartheid, social deprivation and corruption within the police force are among the reasons often cited for high levels of crime. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8280752.stm>

Swiss legal battle awaits Polanski

US prosecutors have disputed claims that Roman Polanski's arrest came out of the blue, saying he had been on an Interpol "wanted list" for years.

Polanski is being held in Switzerland on a US arrest warrant over his conviction, 30 years ago, for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

His agent, Jeff Berg, said the arrest made "no sense" as he had travelled extensively across Europe.

But US authorities implied Polanski had been adept at evading arrest.

"The idea that we have known where he is and we could have gotten him anytime, that just isn't the case," said Chief Inspector of the US Marshals Service Thomas Hession.

'Careful man'

He said the 76-year-old Polish director had been on "red notice" by Interpol, alerting other countries that the US was seeking extradition.

But he said proper legal channels had to be followed, which meant they had to know Polanski's specific whereabouts before a country could be asked to act.

Previously, Los Angeles deputy district attorney Richard Doyle had stated in court testimony: "He knows where he can go. He knows where he can't go. He's been a careful man all these years."

But Mr Berg said: "How hard would it be to find someone shooting a major film in a European country?

"He travels with transparency across Europe. It makes no sense."

According to the Associated Press, the Swiss Criminal Court has said Polanski's lawyers have requested the film-maker's release but precedent in Swiss law shows that the subjects of extradition requests are normally kept in detention.

He is being held in Zurich, where he has been allowed to meet his wife, French actress Emmanuelle Seigner, as well as lawyers. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8279998.stm>

Nguyen Giang BBC Vietnamese service

Four years ago the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, a monk who popularised Buddhism in the West, was invited by the Vietnamese government to return home after 39 years in exile.

The move was seen as a sign that the authorities were becoming more tolerant of religion, a very sensitive issue in the communist state.

But four years on, there are signs that the authorities' new-found tolerance is waning.

Followers of Thich Nhat Hanh say they have been forced out of a monastery by police and angry crowds who ransacked the building over the weekend.

Reports say about 150 monks were evicted from the Bat Nha monastery and more than 200 nuns left on their own on Monday.

And Catholics in Vietnam have been embroiled in a two-year dispute with the government, holding mass demonstrations to demand that the authorities return land they say belongs to the Church. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8278336.stm>

Harry Potter author JK Rowling missed out on a top honour because some US politicians believed she "encouraged witchcraft", it has been claimed.

Matt Latimer, former speech writer for President George W Bush, said that some members of his administration believed her books promoted sorcery.

As a result, she was never presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The claims appear in Latimer's new book called Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor.

He wrote that "narrow thinking" led White House officials to object to giving Rowling the civilian honour.

The award acknowledges contributions to US national interest, world peace or cultural endeavours.

Past literary recipients of the award include John Steinbeck and Harper Lee.

Others denied the privilege under the Bush administration included Senator Edward Kennedy, who died in August this year.

Latimer claimed, in his book, that the veteran politician and health care activist was excluded because he was deemed to be too liberal. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8282356.stm>

As a European Union report into last year's conflict between Georgia and Russia puts a large part of the blame on Georgia, the BBC's Tom Esslemont in Tbilisi asks where this leaves the small Caucasian nation.

Even before the EU-sponsored report was published, Georgia was pushing the line that it does not matter who fired the first shot. The main issue, it said, is Russia's ongoing "occupation" of its sovereign territory and years of stoking tensions between Georgia and its rebel regions.

Now the independent inquiry into the conflict has concluded. But it is not entirely the conclusion Georgia wanted to hear.

It said Georgia's use of force on the night of 7 August 2008 was not justifiable in the context of international law.

It also said that it could not substantiate "Georgian claims of a large-scale presence of Russian armed forces in South Ossetia prior to the Georgian offensive on 7/8 August".

The Georgian government's response - as expected - has been to dismiss those comments.

Wednesday evening's national TV news bulletins said the report pinned the blame on Russia. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8284046.stm>

Downing Street says the prime minister is "open-minded" about whether more UK troops are needed in Afghanistan.

A spokesman said any increase depended on the right strategy being in place and the necessary equipment being available for personnel.

And Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth told the BBC that equipment did not "come from Marks and Spencer" and took time to procure.

Mr Ainsworth will make a speech to the Labour conference later on Afghanistan. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8283989.stm>

By Roger Hardy BBC Middle East analyst

Weakened by months of dissent over June's disputed elections, the ruling clerics in Tehran want to distract attention from their domestic problems - and show leadership on an issue of national importance.

On 1 October, Iran will discuss the nuclear issue in Geneva with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France) plus Germany.

Few observers expect the "five-plus-one" talks to make much headway. Mistrust is the order of the day.

But Iran has its own reasons for showing up - and playing for time.

Among Iranians, the nuclear issue commands a broad national consensus.

To possess the same capability as Israel - not to speak of India and Pakistan - is viewed as a matter of national pride.

It's a view opposition leaders share. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8282990.stm>

An Argentine judge has indicted ex-President Carlos Menem for allegedly trying to cover up evidence related to a deadly 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires.

A car bomb hit a Jewish community centre, known as the AMIA, killing 85.

In a written statement, the judge said Mr Menem covered up what was called at the time "the Syrian connection". He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

At the start of the investigation, the spotlight had turned on an Argentine Syrian friend of the Menem family.

The judge accused Mr Menem of covering up and destroying evidence, and abusing his authority.

His brother, Munir Menem, who was presidential chief of staff at the time, a former federal judge, two intelligence chiefs and two police officers were also indicted.

Speaking to local reporters, the chief prosecutor in the investigation, Alberto Nissman, said he had requested this indictment a long time ago.

According to Mr Nissman, Carlos Menem ordered the cover-up, his brother communicated it and the judge, the police and intelligence officers carried it out.

Mr Nissman said the evidence destroyed had been on 54 tape cassettes.

He has accused Iran of involvement in the attack - the worst in Argentina since World War II.

The Argentine Jewish community is the largest in Latin America. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8286134.stm>

The High Court has given permission for an injunction to be served via social-networking site Twitter.

The order is to be served against an unknown Twitter user who anonymously posts to the site using the same name as a right-wing political blogger.

The order demands the anonymous Twitter user reveal their identity and stop posing as Donal Blaney, who blogs at a site called Blaney's Blarney.

The order says the Twitter user is breaching the copyright of Mr Blaney.

He told BBC News that the content being posted to Twitter in his name was "mildly objectionable".

Mr Blaney turned to Twitter to serve the injunction rather than go through the potentially lengthy process of contacting Twitter headquarters in California and asking it to deal with the matter.

UK law states that an injunction does not have to be served in person and can be delivered by several different means including fax or e-mail.

Danvers Baillieu, a solicitor specialising in technology, said it was possible for anyone to approach the court about any method of serving an injunction if the traditional methods are unavailable.

"The rules already allow for electronic service of some documents, so that they can be sent by e-mail, and it should also be possible to use social networks," he said.

Mr Blaney decided to use Twitter after a recent case in Australia where Facebook was used to serve a court order.

The blogger, who is also a lawyer and owns the firm serving the order, said that he thought that it was the first time Twitter had been used to deliver a court order.

The injunction - known as the Blaney's Blarney Order - is due to be served at 1930 BST and will include a link to the text of the full court order. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8285954.stm>

By Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC News, Islamabad

Pakistan's army has ordered a probe into a video posted on social networking site Facebook that appears to show soldiers abusing Taliban.

The 10-minute video shows men in military uniform beating suspects as officers stand by giving instructions.

An army spokesman told the BBC that anybody found guilty of misconduct would be punished.

It is not clear who shot the film or where. It appears to have been made recently, perhaps in the Swat valley.

If the authenticity of the video is confirmed, it would be the first clear proof of such abuse.

Human rights groups have accused the military of being involved in torture and extrajudicial killings in the region.

Troops recently declared they had largely cleared the Swat valley of insurgents after a sustained offensive there.

"We have ordered an inquiry. Anyone found to have done wrong will face strict disciplinary action," Maj Gen Athar Abbas, head of the army's public relations wing, told the BBC.

"This behaviour is not condoned or accepted in the army," he said.

"The Pakistani army is a very disciplined organisation." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8287264.stm>

The security services kept a file on the former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson throughout his time in office, a new book has revealed.

Defence of the Realm, the first authorised history of MI5, says there were worries about his relationships with Eastern European businessmen.

His contact with KGB officers also raised concerns.

However, the book, serialised in the Times, dismisses long-standing claims of bugging and plots against him.

Mr Wilson, who died in 1995 aged 79, was the only serving prime minister to have a permanent Secret Service file, according to the book's author Cambridge professor Christopher Andrew.

MI5 opened the dossier in 1945 when Mr Wilson became an MP after communist civil servants suggested he had similar political sympathies.

His file was so secret that he was given the pseudonym Norman John Worthington.

Gordon Corera, Security correspondent The belief there was a plot against Wilson was fuelled in the late 1980s when former MI5 officer Peter Wright published his controversial book Spycatcher. Now MI5's own archives have shown there was a "permanent file" on the Labour leader. But it does not appear as if Wilson was the target of a specific investigation in which his phones or office were bugged. Wilson believed he was bugged. When talking to people, he would sometimes gesture to pictures on the wall or to the ceiling. The new book says there is no evidence of a plot to either smear or oust Wilson. In a later interview, even Peter Wright admitted that the conspiracy he had talked about ultimately involved only one person. The interesting question is whether a book based on MI5 archives will convince those who continue to doubt the official account.

Sir Michael Hanley, MI5 director general from 1972, went to even greater lengths to conceal its existence by removing it from the central index, meaning any search would result in a "no trace".

Personal permission from Sir Michael was required to access it.

In his later years in office, Mr Wilson became increasingly obsessive about his belief that the secret services were bugging him and plotting against him.

The Times quotes from the book: "Sitting in his study at Number Ten on his first day back in office [in February 1974], Wilson told [his business friend who Sir Michael Hanley said was not to be trusted with confidences] Lord Kissin of Camden 'there are only three people listening - you, me and MI5.

"Though MI5 was not, of course, listening in to the Prime Minister and had never actively investigated him, it still had a file on him which recorded, inter alia, his past contacts with Communists, KGB officers and other Russians."

Harold Wilson, Labour leader for 13 years, led the country from 1964 to 1970, and then again from 1974 to 1976.

He introduced many permissive policies including decriminalising homosexual practices and legalising abortion.

His government is also remembered for the deteriorating relations with trade unions and the devaluation of the pound in 1967.

The book, to be published next week, will mark MI5's centenary. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8288247.stm>

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met a member of the country's ruling military government for the first time since early 2008.

Ms Suu Kyi, who is under renewed house arrest in Rangoon, met labour minister Aung Kyi, her lawyer said.

The meeting came one day after a court rejected her appeal against her 18 month sentence.

There was no official word on what they discussed, but Ms Suu Kyi has offered to help negotiate an end to sanctions.

Aung Kyi has met Ms Suu Kyi on six previous occasions, the last time in January 2008.

"The meeting lasted about 50 minutes, but I don't know what was discussed," a home ministry official told Reuters news agency.

Negotiations hope

Nyan Win, her lawyer and an official from her opposition party, the National League for Democracy, said: "I don't know what they discussed, but I believe it could be related to the letter sent last week to the senior general [Than Shwe].

Ms Suu Kyi recently made a formal offer to the military rulers to help negotiate an end to international sanctions.

Reports suggest she has softened her views on sanctions in recent times, concluding that they are adversely affecting the lives of ordinary Burmese.

Earlier in the week a senior US official confirmed he had met a Burmese government minister in New York - the first such contact in more than 10 years.

That came after the US announced a new policy on Burma, which consists of a mix of sanctions and dialogue.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won Burma's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.

Observers believe Burma's military authorities want to keep the pro-democracy leader in detention until after polls scheduled for next year. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8288379.stm>

Tens of thousands of Italians have protested in Rome against what they say are threats to press freedom by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

They say his decision to sue newspapers for their coverage of alleged scandals involving young women reveals his contempt for free speech.

Demonstrators also allege Mr Berlusconi has too much control over the media.

Mr Berlusconi called the protest a farce, saying press freedom was greater in Italy than any other Western nation.

Organisers said more than 300,000 people took part in the protest in Rome's central Piazza del Popolo, although city officials put the figure at nearer 60,000. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8289166.stm>

By Gabriel Gatehouse BBC News, Baghdad

Iraqi authorities say they have arrested more than 150 suspected Sunni militants in and around the northern city of Mosul.

The operation began late on Wednesday and is understood to be continuing.

It is the first major Iraqi-led offensive in the area since US forces withdrew from urban areas of the country at the end of June.

Some detainees are part of al-Qaeda in Iraq, others loyal to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, officials say.

The defence ministry says that 100 of the detainees have already been transferred to the capital for questioning, and that about 100 are still wanted.

The operation is being led by an elite Iraqi anti-terrorist unit from Baghdad, and this is the largest of its kind since the Americans handed control of urban areas back to Iraqi forces.

There are still large numbers of US troops stationed in the area, though it is not clear to what extent they were involved in the operation, if at all.

While security has improved in many parts of Iraq, the government in Baghdad has struggled to stamp its authority on Mosul, where attacks on security forces and civilians remain a daily occurrence. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8289149.stm>

A senior militant leader in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region is to instruct followers to lay down their weapons, a day after two more commanders disarmed.

Government Tompolo, who heads the main rebel faction in the western Delta, is due to make the move before an amnesty expires at midnight local time.

On Saturday, militant commanders Akete Tom and Farah Dagogo led their fighters in handing over weapons.

The government has offered an amnesty in return for pledges of cash and jobs.

Militants took up arms in 2006, saying proceeds from the region's oil wealth had not benefited local people.

Although Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest oil exporter, unrest in the Delta has prevented it from pumping much more than two-thirds of its production capacity. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8289171.stm>

Deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya has arrived in the Dominican Republic, beginning his exile and ending seven months of turmoil in Honduras.

Hundreds of supporters, many waving flags, watched him leave the airport in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.

His departure marks the end of efforts to return to office after soldiers forced him into exile at gunpoint on 28 June over a constitutional dispute.

Newly-elected President Porfirio Lobo had offered him safe passage.

Under a deal struck by the two men, Mr Zelaya agreed to fly to exile as a way to avoid prosecution in Honduras on charges that he violated the constitution while in office.

Mr Lobo said the measure - first proposed months ago in failed mediation talks in Costa Rica - was needed as part of a process of reconciliation.

Mr Zelaya travelled to the Dominican Republic on the presidential plane, accompanied by the country's president, Leonel Fernandez, who attended the swearing-in ceremony for Mr Lobo hours before.