Soldiers have fired on Palestinian
protesters in Lebanon, killing at least three people and injuring about
40, witnesses and medics say. The Palestinians were trying to break
through a checkpoint to get back to their homes in the Nahr al-Bared
refugee camp in northern Lebanon. The camp has been the scene of weeks
of clashes between the army and Islamists. Fighting at the camp and
associated unrest has left 200 people dead since 20 May. This makes it
Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6254230.stm>
The decision not to renew the broadcast
licence of Venezuela's oldest television station, Radio Caracas
Television, provoked controversy inside and outside Venezuela. The
channel, which in 2002 broadcast calls to overthrow President Hugo
Chavez, went off its terrestrial frequency at the end of May. Carlos
Chirinos of BBC Mundo reports from Caracas on how Venezuelans' viewing
habits have since been forced to change: <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6238148.stm>
The African Union summit is opening in
Accra, Ghana, focusing this year on the idea of a pan-African
government. Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is championing the idea,
but correspondents say many African leaders do not support his
initiative. There are fears the issue will push the crises in Zimbabwe,
Somalia and Darfur off the agenda. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6258072.stm>
The new president of Nigeria, Umaru
Yar'Adua, has publicly declared his assets, in an effort to combat
official corruption, his spokesman says. Correspondents say it is the
first time in Nigeria's history that a sitting president has done this.
Public officials have to declare their assets to authorities by law,
but are not compelled to make them public. According to Mr Yar'Adua, he
is worth about $5m (£2.5m). <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6252442.stm>
For nearly seven years, deep in the
archives of the Hungarian parliament, 29 brown cardboard boxes have
gathered dust. They contain documents gathered by the Investigative
Committee Established to Uncover Possible Issues of Corruption Between
Oil Affairs and Organised Crime. The committee existed from February to
November 2000.
The documents include customs declarations, written responses from
regional police chiefs, court verdicts and video tapes, including one
with the words "Police Corruption" handwritten on the case. All 29
boxes are open to public scrutiny. But on Thursday, the head of the
archive, Bela Palmany, told me I was the first person ever to come to
look at them. A further four boxes of documents are locked away, their
contents classified as secret for 80 years. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6254282.stm>
Manila terror law draws criticism
A tough new anti-terrorism law has come
into effect in the Philippines. The Human Security Act allows the
government to detain suspects for up to three days without charge, use
wiretaps and also seize suspects' assets. The government in Manila says
the law will help it to tackle militant groups, such as Abu Sayyaf. But
critics, including the Roman Catholic Church, fear the law could be
used to quell legitimate political dissent in the country. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6899361.stm>
The southern Philippines' uneasy truce
By Adrian Addison, Manila
Father Giancarlo Bossi, an Italian
priest, was kidnapped more than a month ago in his parish in the
volatile southern Philippines. He was a quiet man who had lived in the
Philippines for more than a decade, and had, colleagues say, a deep
love and understanding of the local people. The Philippine military has
been searching for him since his disappearance, as has the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF), a rebel group that has signed a truce with the
government. But on Tuesday, the two heavily armed groups met each
other, with devastating consequences. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6294346.stm>
The
Philippine military has launched a full offensive against Islamic
militants in the south, President Gloria Arroyo has announced. Ms
Arroyo said the assault, on Jolo island in Sulu province, was directed
against "terrorist cells".
The army headquarters was temporarily moved to the south at the weekend to boost efforts to target the militants. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6944208.stm>
Iraqi river carries grotesque cargo
Five hundred mutilated bodies dumped into the River Tigris have been
washed up in two years in the town of Suweira, 100km (62 miles) south
of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The BBC's Mona Mahmoud and Sebastian
Usher have spoken to the community through an Iraqi journalist to find
out how they cope. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6902024.stm>
Wealth gap 'widest in 40 years'
The gap between rich and poor in the UK
is as wide as it has been for 40 years, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
warns. The JRF found that households in already wealthy areas had
become "disproportionately" richer compared with society as a whole.
But the social policy think tank said the number of "poor" households
had risen over the past 15 years. Since the 1980s, wealthier people
have moved to the suburbs while the poor remain in inner cities, the
JRF added. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6901147.stm>
Street protests 'paralyse' Peru
By Dan Collyns, BBC News, Lima
Striking teachers in Lima. Photo: 13 July 2007. The protesting teachers object to a new proficiency test law
Nationwide protests and a general strike have brought Peru to a near
standstill over the last week. Thousands of people in every major town
and city took to the streets, and three people are reported to have
been killed in clashes around the country. The protests are widely seen
as a show of disapproval with the government of President Alan Garcia.
They come just a fortnight before President Garcia completes his first
year in office. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6899331.stm>
Nato faces Afghanistan 'problems'
Defence Secretary Des Browne has said
UK-led Nato forces are facing "problems" in Afghanistan but there was
no question of troops being pulled out. He warned it would be a
"potential nightmare" for the west if Afghanistan was allowed to become
a terrorist "training ground" as it was before. Mr Browne was
responding to a report by a committee of MPs which called on Nato
countries to commit more troops. It highlighted equipment shortages and
fears the Taleban are gaining strength. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6903403.stm>
Sydney urged to pack for attack
By Phil Mercer, BBC News, Sydney
Residents of Australia's biggest city,
Sydney, have been urged to pack a survival kit to prepare for a
terrorist attack or a natural disaster. The local authority wants
people to put together an emergency "Go-Bag", including maps, food and
a radio. Officials have denied the campaign is a government attempt to
create fear and enhance national security credentials ahead of
elections due later this year. Senior ministers said planning for the
initiative began two years ago. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6902143.stm>
Food prices on the rise and rise
By Nick Higham, BBC News correspondent
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has
set out her agenda for her last three years in office, as thousands of
protesters gathered in Manila. Ms Arroyo used her annual State of the
Nation address to list her government's economic successes and promise
greater opportunities for the poor. She pledged to try to bring peace
to the troubled south, and also defended a controversial new
anti-terror law. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6911261.stm>
How BBC exposed Bulgarian baby trade
An undercover BBC News report has
exposed a bid to sell Bulgarian babies and smuggle them into the UK.
Sangita Myska from the Ten O'Clock News reports from Varna on how the
investigation unfolded. A contact of mine - with whom I had previously
worked undercover - told me he had heard of a trafficker operating out
of Bulgaria. It was a country that evidence showed was grappling with a
people-smuggling problem. As a condition of entry to the European
Union, it had introduced strict anti-trafficking laws and banned
families from selling their children but the problem was persisting. We
dispatched an undercover team to make contact with the man, known as
Harry, that we had heard about. He was part of a criminal gang working
out of the costal resort of Varna - a popular destination for foreign
holiday-makers. Our three-man undercover team was taking a huge risk.
And their bravery would help clinch the story. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6917021.stm>
French press reacts to Tour scandal
Three riders and two teams have pulled
out or been thrown out of the famous Tour de France cycle race in the
past two days alone amid calls for the event to be cancelled. With
allegations of blood-doping, drug-taking and lying swirling around the
race, the French press bemoan the "death" of an event that still
retains an endless fascination. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6917411.stm>
Farc 'killed hostages by mistake'
The 11 politicians who died while being
held by Farc rebels were killed during an accidental clash between
factions, Colombia's intelligence chief has said. Andres Penate said
intercepted communications showed the left-wing movement had shot dead
the hostages after coming across another rebel unit. Thinking they were
security forces, commanders ordered the hostages to be killed rather
than let them be rescued. The Farc said in a statement that they were
investigating the incident. The group had previously insisted the
politicians were killed in crossfire when an "unidentified military
group" attacked their jungle camp in the western Valle del Cauca region
on 18 June. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6920941.stm>
Development 'not ruining' Potala
By Michael Bristow, BBC News, Lhasa
Officials at Tibet's Potala Palace in
Lhasa have rejected concerns that the 1,300-year-old palace is being
hemmed in by ugly, modern Chinese buildings. Palace director Qiangba
Gesang said the Chinese government was working to protect the former
winter home of the Dalai Lamas and the surrounding area. Unesco has
expressed concern that development around the palace is spoiling the
site's unique atmosphere. The Potala Palace was placed on Unesco's
World Heritage List in 1994. Comprising a series of palaces and other
buildings, it sits on top of a hill overlooking Lhasa Valley, 3,700m
above sea level. Qiangba Gesang said this was not the first time Unesco
has expressed concern. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6920782.stm>
Goodbye Luton; hello Lebanon
Many of Bettina and Edward's friends
are surprised they are going Moving house is stressful enough, but how
about moving countries, in your 80s, to a country that can quickly
become a war zone as happened 12 months ago? That's what British couple
Edward Griffiths, 84, and his wife Bettina, 81, are doing next week.
After 40 years in Bedfordshire, the Griffiths are swapping their
bungalow in Luton for the mountains overlooking Beirut.
They are moving to be closer to family. Granddaughter Naomi and her
Lebanese husband have invited them into the home they share with their
three - soon to be four - children. "At our age, I am almost certain we
will need help at some stage," explains Bettina. "And Naomi's husband's
family are some of the kindest people we've ever come across". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6925896.stm>
Concern over UN's wider Iraq role
By Matthew Wells, BBC correspondent at the UN
Colditz seeks to tempt tourists
By Steve Rosenberg, BBC Berlin correspondent
Sitting on the sofa in his tiny
apartment, 86-year-old Alfred Heinrich shows me his wartime snaps: old
portraits of himself as a dashing young soldier in the Wehrmacht. Mr
Heinrich was lucky to survive World War II. He lost an eye and received
a serious leg wound on the Russian Front. His combat days over, in 1942
Mr Heinrich began work as a guard at a prisoner-of-war camp for
captured Allied officers. The camp was called 'Oflag 4C' - it is better
known as Colditz. "At Colditz it was always like cat and mouse,"
recalled Mr Heinrich, who is one of the few Colditz guards still alive.
He went on: "Prisoners kept escaping and we had to keep catching them.
I remember one day I heard a kind of knocking noise. It was coming from
a manhole. Together with my superior, we lifted up the manhole cover
and there in the sewers were two English prisoners who'd been trying to
escape!" <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6922956.stm>
Losing land to palm oil in Kalimantan
By James Painter, BBC News, West Kalimantan
Barto is more sad than angry. He is a
leader of a Dayak Kanayan community in a remote part of the rainforest
in deepest Borneo. Barto and his fellow villagers have seen chunks of
their land destroyed
Gazing out over a vast expanse of freshly planted palm oil plants, he
says: "This is our ancestors' land which we have had for years, and now
we have lost it." Barto's village of Aruk is on the Indonesian side of
the border with Malaysia, in West Kalimantan. It is a key region
earmarked for palm oil expansion, as Indonesia hopes to reap the
benefits of a growing demand for palm oil products in China, India and
Europe.
The EU recently agreed to replace 10% of its transport fuel with
biofuels, including palm oil, by 2020. The village is just one of
several where the land rights of local communities and indigenous
groups come head to head with new concessions given to palm oil
companies. Barto's cousin, 35-year-old Alexander, lost his 10-acre plot
last year. "I went to my land one morning, and found it had been
cleared. All my rubber trees, my plants had been destroyed," he says,
fighting back the tears. "Now I have to work as a builder in Malaysia,
so I can feed my three children." <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6927890.stm>
Julie Flint returns home to Beirut and reports that, despite a love of
life, the Lebanese are suffering from terrible uncertainty and
insecurity.
Something strange happens to me whenever I fly into Beirut airport,
which I have been doing many times a year for the past 26 years. My
heart beats a little faster and I get butterflies in my stomach.
It could, I suppose, be a subconscious reaction to the memory of my
first arrival in Beirut in December 1982 when our plane was seized by
armed men who threatened to kill one of us every five minutes unless
their demands were met.
But I do not think that is it.
It is more of an expectation, like a first date, a reunion with a partner unseen for some time.
That, plus worry about how I will find my house, my friends, and my
cats - especially Captain Flint, the three-legged ginger who jumps like
a bean from the highest places he can find, still not understanding
that he is one limb short. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6939281.stm>
Quake survivors berate president
Demonstration in Pisco. The protesters
said they were suffering and had received no help Peruvian President
Alan Garcia has encountered demonstrations by survivors of last week's
earthquake as he toured one of the worst affected areas. The tremor
left at least 500 people dead and thousands homeless in the Ica region,
south of the capital Lima. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6954249.stm>
Pressure for Bolivian 'people's president'
By Lola Almudevar, Sucre, Bolivia
One year ago, Evo Morales stood before his people holding their dreams
in his hands. Twelve months on, Bolivia is facing a stark wake-up call.
Bolivian President Evo Morales in Sucre 5 August
A warm welcome for Evo Morales in Sucre but he faces big challenges
It was on 6 August last year, Independence Day, when President Morales
swore in the constituent assembly in Sucre. The assembly was set up to
write Bolivia's new constitution - an
onerous task but one that social movements for decades had been
fighting for. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6932994.stm>
Immigrants trigger Irish rethink
The
great and good of Ireland gathered for a conference this week to
discuss how to deal with mass immigration - a relatively new phenomenon
in a country more used to seeing its own people leave.
The World Tonight's Paul Moss has been in the Republic of Ireland looking at the impact of immigration.
Siobhan O'Donahue was in a hurry.
Immigration is changing Irish schools (pic: Educate Together)
|
Trying to nail her down for an interview, you get the
impression this is a permanent state of affairs - rushing from one
meeting to another, dealing with a succession of increasingly urgent
cases.
The director of a drop-in centre that looks after
immigrants in Dublin, Siobhan says they are picking up the problems
that nobody has sought fit to deal with: schooling, housing, access to
healthcare.
She argues that Ireland invited immigrants to come and work, without giving any thought to their wider impact.
"We saw them essentially as units of labour," she says. "We didn't see them as people with social and community needs.
"The planning and infrastructure wasn't put in place."
And there are plenty of people to cater for. This is a country that had few foreign residents right up until the late 1980s.
But then came an economic boom, and a relatively-poor, agricultural nation became instead the "Celtic Tiger".
They take the money they're earning back out of the country
Dublin local
And to fuel this growth, Ireland decided to allow in workers from the new Eastern European members of the European Union.
The result is that now, more than one in seven people in Ireland was born outside the country.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7130698.stm>