Policing the World-12

By Andrew Bomford BBC News, Calais

They are the migrants, who emerge each afternoon from makeshift camps to sit near busy road junctions and try their luck as trucks come by heading for the French port, and Britain.

That it happens in broad daylight as well as the dead of night is a sign of how brazen, and how desperate, these people have become.

But watching it happen can be risky too. We were chased off by men carrying big bits of wood as we tried to film. They were the traffickers who trade in the misery of many of their fellow countrymen.

"To get to Britain from here we people pay £500 ($700), or £700, and even £1,200 just to cross this line," says Zabir, a migrant from Afghanistan.

It is just the latest in a long line of payments to get to this far. Most have already spent thousands getting from their home countries to the point in northern France closest to Britain.

"People are compelled to do it," Zabir continues. "If someone tells me they will get me into the UK, I will pay him anything." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7941060.stm>

By Jill McGivering BBC News, Mindanao

Women crouch over smoky pots in the doorways, cooking. Small children run to and fro. It is over-crowded, baking hot and endlessly noisy - a backdrop of barking dogs, cockerels and crying infants.

This is one of many evacuation centres in and around Datu Piang in Mindanao. For the last seven months, it has been the makeshift home of thousands of families.

They fled here from villages that came under attack when fighting intensified last year between Muslim rebels, led by so-called rogue commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and Philippine government forces.

The fresh conflict broke out when a long-awaited peace deal collapsed.

It would have been a first step towards granting an enlarged and more autonomous Muslim region - but the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

The deal also faced fierce political opposition, including from many within the island's Christian community. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7935184.stm>

Austrian researchers collected data on more than 1,300 patients, 200 of them in the UK, over a 24-hour period.

Of the 441 patients affected, seven suffered permanent harm and five died partly because of the error, the British Medical Journal reported.

Medical staff often cited stress and tiredness as contributing factors.

Data was collected by researchers from Rudolfstiftung Hospital from a total of 113 intensive care units, of which 17 were in the UK.

The administration of injected medication is a weak point in patient safety Dr Andreas Valentin, lead researcher

Nearly half of the affected patients suffered more than one mistake during the period covered.

The most frequent errors were related to the wrong time of administration and missing doses altogether.

Cases of incorrect doses and wrong drugs being given were also reported.

A total of 69% of the errors occurred during routine care.

Mistakes occurred with many types of drugs, including insulin for diabetics, sedatives and blood-clotting drugs.

The doctors and nurses who took part in the study cited stress and tiredness as a contributing factor in a third of mistakes.

Recent changes in the drug's name, poor communication between staff and violation of protocols were also mentioned.

The International Crisis Group said previous deals had broken down within months and strengthened the militants.

Instead, it said Afghans needed a stronger state and the rule of law.

US President Barack Obama has floated the idea of talking to moderate Taleban elements as part of a new strategy for the war against the militants.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm Mike Mullen said on Friday that the Obama administration was close to announcing the new strategy.

US officials say that key objectives will be getting Pakistani help in the fight against extremism and reducing American expectations for military victory.

The White House expects to announce the new objectives for the war - which it admits is not being won - next week.

President Obama has recently ordered the deployment of additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan.

Since the Taleban was ousted in 2001, the number of US troops in Afghanistan has risen to about 70,000. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7942703.stm>

By Rachel Harvey BBC News

Rare video of Papua's freedom fighters filmed by a British activist

An area of thick jungle and mountains, roughly the size of Spain, Papua is the eastern-most outpost of the Indonesian archipelago, some 3,200km (2,000 miles) from the government in Jakarta.

Culturally it feels even further.

Papua became part of Indonesia in 1969 after a controversial and very limited vote. Ever since there have been calls from some Papuans for independence and for decades a low-level armed resistance has been rumbling on, largely unnoticed by the outside.

International journalists are severely restricted from working in the province. A special permit is required.

But the BBC's Newsnight programme was recently offered rare footage of rebel fighters in their jungle hide-out.

The pictures were filmed by a British man keen to document the independence movement. He travelled undercover, aided by local activists, and asked that he remain anonymous to protect those who helped him.

It took him nine hours in a car and 16 hours on foot, trekking through the jungle, to reach the mountain stronghold of the Free Papua Movement Rebels.

Cultural erosion

They are, in truth, a pretty fragmented, poorly armed band of warriors. Some dress in Western-style shorts and T-shirts, with wellington boots the footwear of choice.

This is my land - our ancestors gave us this land. Indonesia has stolen it from us Rebel commander Goliath Tabuni

Others proudly sport more traditional attire - a few feathers and beads, unkempt beards, wild hair and penis gourds. The size and curlicue of the latter denoting status.

They are armed with a few assault rifles stolen from the Indonesian security forces, and homemade bows and arrows.

The power of the rebels lies as much in the symbolism of their existence as it does in their ability to wage war.

Many Papuans feel their culture and identity are slowly being eroded. Papuans don't look like other Indonesians. They are Melanesian, closer to Aboriginals than Asians.

But migrants from other Indonesian islands now make up about half the local population. Some of these incomers consider the traditional Papuan way of life backward and uncivilised.

Layers of grievance have built up over the decades.

"We've had enough," said Anton, a tribal leader. "Indonesia has committed crimes, killing people and other human rights abuses. We want freedom, justice and democracy." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7942026.stm>

After 40 hours of hyperbaric treatment autistic children showed significant improvements in social interaction and eye contact compared with controls.

The BMC Pediatrics study could not show if the results were long-lasting but should prompt further investigation of the treatment, the US team said.

One theory is that oxygen can help reduce inflammation and improve flow of oxygen to brain tissue.

Hyperbaric treatment - effectively giving high concentrations of oxygen at increased atmospheric pressure - has been shown to have some benefit in other neurological conditions such as foetal alcohol syndrome and cerebral palsy.

We're certainly not talking about a cure, we're talking about improvements in behaviour, improving certain functions and quality of life Study leader, Dr Dan Rossignol

Some studies have looked at the treatment in children with autism but they have not compared with a dummy procedure raising questions around a "placebo effect".

In the latest study, carried out at six centres in the US, 62 children aged two to seven with autism were randomly assigned to receive 40 hours of treatment over a month with 24% oxygen at increased atmospheric pressure (1.3 atm) or normal air in a slightly pressurised room (1.03 atm).

Children who received the treatment showed significant improvements in overall functioning, receptive language, social interaction, eye contact, and sensory or cognitive awareness.

In all, 30% in the treatment group were rated by doctors as "very much improved" or "much improved" compared with 8% of those in the control group.

Overall, 80% in the treatment group improved compared with 38% of controls. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7940149.stm>

By Kim Ghattas BBC News, Washington

Chinese dissidents, former American ambassadors and intelligence officials have all weighed in, as the debate continues over whether Mr Freeman was brought down by his views on Israel.

An outspoken former ambassador to Riyadh, Mr Freeman found himself at the centre of a growing controversy about his views on Israel, China and Tibet while the campaign against him, first online and then on Capitol Hill kept growing.

On Tuesday, 10 March, his soon-to-be boss, Dennis Blair, defended his choice in Congress. Later that afternoon, Mr Blair's office sent out a note announcing that Mr Freeman was withdrawing his nomination.

Mr Freeman sent out an acerbic letter, accusing the "Israel Lobby" of "plumbing the depths of dishonour and indecency", using "character assassination" and controlling policy by vetoing people who disagreed with them. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7944677.stm>

By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad

A long, fraught night in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, culminated in the government's decision to reinstate the chief justice who was sacked more than a year ago.

Lawyers who had campaigned for Iftikhar Chaudhry's reinstatement were ecstatic.

The public was also happy, because the decision had averted a major confrontation between the two largest political forces of the country, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of President Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif.

The two parties had together swept the 2008 elections and formed an alliance to rule the country.

The alliance was widely welcomed by the electorate as it meant that the two parties would not resort to the political squabbling of the 1990s which destabilised successive governments and impoverished the economy.

Transfer of power

But the parties drifted apart over the question of the reinstatement of Justice Chaudhry, who had been sacked by military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2007.

Public aspirations can no longer be ignored either by politicians, soldiers or judges, Justice Chaudhry included

Gen Musharraf's successor, Mr Zardari, had pledged to reinstate Justice Chaudhry but was accused of delaying the move because he feared the judge might revive corruption cases against him.

Those cases were instituted by the government of Nawaz Sharif in 1997 but were withdrawn by Gen Musharraf's government under the transfer-of-power deal which paved the way for the 2008 elections.

That transfer-of-power deal also apparently contained an agreement that would protect Gen Musharraf from prosecution for actions during his leadership.

So what backroom deals were done to secure this latest accord, apparently sealed following high-level negotiations in which the army and some US diplomats played a key role?

Legal experts say a reversal would expose Pervez Musharraf to prosecution for illegal conduct, something many say is unlikely to happen.

If, on the other hand, Justice Chaudhry is being offered an arrangement that does not term his sacking illegal, then the PML-N and some top lawyer leaders may have agreed to let Pervez Musharraf off the hook.

Then there is the question of Nawaz Sharif.

His PML-N threw its weight behind the lawyers' movement after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling to ban him and his brother Shahbaz from elected office.

Shahbaz was chief minister of Pakistan's largest province, Punjab, and had to step down. The central government extended federal rule to Punjab.

It seems the government has now offered a judicial review of that judgment.

This, together with the decision to reinstate Justice Chaudhry, has rekindled hopes for many that the two parties may revert to the post-election phase of mutual cooperation.

There is certainly a growing feeling that politically motivated cases, such as those against Mr Zardari or the Sharifs, have damaged the credibility of the judiciary. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7946396.stm>

By Katherine Sellgren BBC News, at the ASCL conference

Dr Carol Craig said children were being over-praised and were developing an "all about me" mentality.

She said teachers increasingly faced complaints from parents if their child failed a spelling test or did not get a good part in the school pantomime.

Schools needed to reclaim their role as educators, not psychologists, she said.

Dr Craig, who is chief executive of the centre for confidence and well-being in Scotland, was speaking at the Association of School and College Leaders conference in Birmingham. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7943906.stm>

He defeated his conservative rival, the Arena party's Rodrigo Avila, who has admitted defeat.

Arena had won every presidential election since the end of El Salvador's civil war 18 years ago.

Addressing jubilant supporters, Mr Funes said it was the happiest day of his life and the beginning of a new chapter of peace for the country.

Branded by his opponents as a puppet of Venezuala's President Hugo Chavez, Mr Funes vowed to respect all Salvadorian democratic institutions.

The FMLN won 51.3% of the vote against Arena's 48.7%, Reuters news agency reported. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7944899.stm>

Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud struck the deal with Mr Leiberman's party Yisrael Beiteinu, which has been accused by some critics of anti-Arab racism.

But it includes a clause stressing both parties' preference for a unity cabinet which could alter the portfolios.

Mr Netanyahu has also been seeking the support of the centrist Kadima party.

If Kadima also joins the coalition line-up, party leader and current Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni could keep her position, although talks have so far proved inconclusive.

Mr Netanyahu has a deadline of 3 April to form a government in the wake of elections in February.

Ms Livni, whose party outpolled Likud by a single seat in the election but was seen as less able to build a coalition, has demanded Mr Netanyahu signs up to a two-state solution with the Palestinians before she joins the government.

New formula

Yisrael Beiteinu is a strong supporter of Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, seen as illegal under international law and a major obstacle to a peace deal.

Correspondents say the designation of the former bouncer at a Moldovan nightclub as Israeli foreign minister could harm some of the country's international relations.

Mr Netanyahu also favours a revised peace formula, which concentrates on economic development of autonomous Palestinian areas rather than agreeing territorial deals with the Palestinians.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has warned Israel that it must work towards a two-state solution to maintain its current international diplomatic support.

"Let me say very clearly that the way the EU will relate to a government [of Israel] that is not committed to a two-state solution would be very different," he said at a news conference.

If Kadima sees through its stated intention to lead the opposition, Likud is expected to try to bring in smaller hard-line parties like Jewish Home, National Union and United Torah Judaism.

That would give it a solid right-wing majority of 65 in the 120-seat parliament.

The deal with Yisrael Beiteinu envisages it getting five cabinet posts.

In addition to foreign affairs Mr Leiberman would be named deputy prime minister. Other posts include the ministers of internal security, infrastructure, tourism, and the immigrants integration. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7945351.stm>

Mr Khatami was president of Iran from 1997-2005 and was succeeded by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative.

Mr Ahmadinejad is expected to stand for re-election.

Mr Khatami's apparent decision to withdraw leaves Mr Ahmadinejad in a stronger position, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran.

MOHAMMAD KHATAMI Served as Iranian president from 1997-2005 Born 1943, the son of a respected ayatollah in Yazd Province Regarded as a reformist Profile: Mohammad Khatami

Mr Khatami was the most liberal president since the revolution.

But he entered this campaign reluctantly and unenthusiastically, adds our correspondent, and it soon became clear that many of those in power in Iran did not want him to return as president. One city prevented Mr Khatami from campaigning with the excuse that it would cause traffic jams.

His withdrawal therefore comes as no surprise, says our correspondent, and Mr Khatami is now expected to endorse former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Mr Mousavi held office between 1980 and 1988. He is also a member of Iran's Expediency Council which is the country's top political arbitration body.

The candidacy of more than one reformist may split voters opposed to Mr Ahmadinejad.

By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

CIA interrogation techniques used on al-Qaeda suspects "constituted torture", according to a leaked report by the international Red Cross.

The findings were based on testimonies by 14 so-called "high-value" detainees who were held in secret CIA prisons.

They were interviewed after being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

President George W Bush denied torture had happened and President Barack Obama has banned US agents from carrying out such practices.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has an international role in monitoring standards for prisoners and trying to ensure compliance by governments with the Geneva Conventions.

It was denied access to the prisoners until their transfer to Guantanamo Bay.

I was told that they would not allow me to die but that I would be brought to the 'verge of death and back again' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

The ICRC report was obtained by Mark Danner, a US writer, whose account is in the New York Review of Books.

The report was not intended for publication but, as is the procedure in such cases, was given in confidence to the US government.

"For the first time the words are those of the detainees themselves," Mark Danner says in a podcast attached to his story. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7945783.stm>

A military spokesman said the Unarmed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was in Iraqi airspace for almost an hour and 10 minutes before it was engaged.

"This was not an accident on the part of the Iranians," the spokesman said, without elaborating. The incident took place on 25 February, he said.

Foreign organisations could drop relief supplies at airports and let Sudanese organisations take care of it, the president told a military rally.

Sudan has already expelled 13 large foreign agencies, mostly from Darfur.

Mr Bashir accuses them of spying for the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

He also shut down three local aid groups, including one of the largest Sudanese groups operating in Darfur.

If they want to bring relief, let them drop it at airports or seaports President Omar al-Bashir

The United Nations said the expulsions had left millions at risk of a humanitarian crisis.

Speaking to a rally of security forces in the capital, Khartoum, the president said all foreign relief groups should go. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7946306.stm>

By Tim Franks BBC News, Jerusalem

How do you say the unspeakable? The refuge, in many places, at many times, has been the cartoon.

But in the Middle East, there has not been much of that tradition.

It is partly censorship. It is partly, also, the religious tradition: Islamic tradition has discouraged figurative depiction of human beings; in Judaism, pictures are used only sparingly.

Now, an exhibition which is currently touring the West Bank, aims to spread the word about the power of cartoons.

Lighting Lamps is sponsored by the British Council, and has just opened at the Duheishe refugee camp, close to Bethlehem.

It features cartoons from across the Middle East, as well as a smattering from the British cartoonist, Steve Bell. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7945817.stm>

By Stephen Gibbs BBC News, San Salvador

Take what happened on Sunday night in El Salvador.

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), once targeted by the US government as a threat to the world as we knew it, whose defeat was seen as being worth billions of dollars and thousands of lives, gains power.

The young revolutionary leaders who once attracted the attention of the Kremlin or the CIA are now middle-aged men

The US administration sends its congratulations, and says it "looks forward to working with the new government".

The man who will finally bring the party of former Marxist guerrillas from the jungle to the presidential palace is not perhaps the person the Pentagon analysts of the 1980s expected.

Mauricio Funes has never been seen in army fatigues, or carrying an AK-47. He likes a grey suit and designer spectacles. His weapon of choice is a natural eloquence, and a glowing CV from his former employer - CNN.

His view of the American administration is yet more evidence of how the world, and the White House, has changed.

Mr Funes is an admirer of President Barack Obama. He even used his image in his election campaign - something the local US embassy thought was taking things too far. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7947378.stm>

Mukhtar Mai was raped by four men in her village as a punishment after her 12-year-old brother was accused of adultery in 2002.

She ignored taboos about her ordeal and fought to have her attackers convicted.

Since then Mukhtar Mai has become a champion for women's rights in her country and an internationally-recognised figure.

Six men arrested and sentenced to death in connection with the gang rape are still in custody pending a retrial.

'In Allah's hand'

Ms Mai had said she was not sure she would ever marry, but on Sunday wed police constable Nasir Abbas Gabol in Muzaffargarh district, near Multan in Punjab province.

"When you get married, you have to have faith in your partner and his family. I will try to cooperate with them," she told Associated Press.

"You know, I never said that I would not marry, I said that these things - relationships - are in the hands of Allah. I said if I got a good man I would get married.

"Now, as I thought fit, and with the agreement of my parents and other people, I've got married."

Mukhtar Mai is constable Nasir Abbas Gabol's second wife. The marriage was solemnised at a simple ceremony in her village, Mirwala.

She first met Nasir Abbas when he was posted at the police station in the village after her gang rape in 2002.

"Eighteen months ago, he sent his parents to ask me if I would marry him. I declined because I knew he was already married and I didn't want to ruin his first wife's life," Mukhtar Mai told the BBC Urdu service.

Nasir Abbas did not take his rejection well and "threatened to divorce his first wife. He also tried to commit suicide", Mukhtar Mai says.

His sisters are married into his first wife's family - and in a tit-for-tat move they were threatened with divorce too if Nasir Abbas divorced his first wife.

Nasir Abbas's first wife and his two sisters approached Mukhtar Mai and pleaded with her to marry Nasir Abbas.

"So I married him on humanitarian grounds. I didn't want three families breaking up because of me," she says. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7947458.stm>

The Local Government Association says such words and phrases must be avoided for staff to "communicate effectively".

Cliches such as "level playing field" and inscrutable terms like "re-baselining" have been prohibited.

LGA chairman Margaret Eaton said: "The public sector must not hide behind impenetrable jargon and phrases."

Local and central government are often criticised for their use of language.

'Coterminous, stakeholder engagement'

The LGA's list includes suggested translations of some terms, such as "measuring" for the civil servant's favourite "benchmarking", "idea" for "seedbed", "delay" for "slippage" and "buy" for "procure".

For most, though, no explanation is forthcoming or, perhaps, possible.

Town hall workers are urged not to use the words "mainstreaming", "holistic", "contestability" and "synergies".

SOME OF THE WORST Blue sky thinking Can do culture Coterminosity Double devolution Horizon scanning Improvement levers Pathfinder Potentialities Quantum Revenue Streams Subsidiarity Symposium Thinking outside of the box Value-added Source: LGA

The French word "tranche", meaning "slice" in conventional English, is also banned.

Ms Eaton said: "Why do we have to have 'coterminous, stakeholder engagement' when we could just 'talk to people' instead?

"During the recession, it is vital that we explain to people in plain English how to get access to the 800 different services that local government provides with taxpayers' money.

"Councils have a duty, not only to provide value for money to local people, but also to tell people what they get for the tax they pay. People would be furious if they have no idea of what services their cash is paying for and how they should get to use them." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7948894.stm>

By Bethany Bell BBC News, Jerusalem

The Geneva Conventions and additional protocols prohibit the destruction of property, "except when rendered absolutely necessary by military operations" and "indiscriminate attacks" affecting civilians.

Concerns about the number of civilian casualties and damage to buildings in Gaza have been raised - among others - by the United Nations, by the Palestinian Authority, the Arab League and by human rights groups.

But it is not clear whether the alleged violations count as war crimes or how people responsible might be held accountable. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7896372.stm>

By Paul Wood Middle East correspondent

At the time, Israeli officials said the aim of Operation Cast Lead was to restore the principle of deterrence in southern Israel.

As it is understood in this part of the world, that means bludgeoning your enemies into submission, causing enough pain that they will hesitate to come back for more.

In fact, this traditional Middle Eastern way of doing things was given a modern twist. Israel now had a new military doctrine: "go nuts" once and your enemies will fear to strike again.

The next government will be led by Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud. He believes that the threat from Gaza is far less than that from a nuclear armed Iran Israeli voices: Still under fire Hamas threatens rocket militants

As Israeli commentator Ofer Shelah put it: "In the face of enemies who have opted for a strategy of attrition and attacking from a distance, Israel will present itself as a 'crazy country', the kind that will respond (albeit after a great deal of time) in a massive and unfettered assault, with no proportion to the amount of casualties it has endured."

Certainly, there was massive bombing of Gaza; some 1,300 Palestinians lives were lost, many civilians.

From Israel's point of view, did it work? The answer must be, only partially. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7940624.stm>

One account tells of a sniper killing a mother and children at close range whom troops had told to leave their home.

Another speaker at the seminar described what he saw as the "cold blooded murder" of a Palestinian woman.

The army has defended its conduct during the Gaza offensive but said it would investigate the testimonies.

The Israeli army has said it will investigate the soldiers' accounts.

The testimonies were published by the military academy at Oranim College. Graduates of the academy, who had served in Gaza, were speaking to new recruits at a seminar.

The climate in general [was that] lives of Palestinians are much, much less important than the lives of our soldiers Soldier testimony Analysis: Operation Miscast Lead? Gaza war crimes probes

"[The testimonies] conveyed an atmosphere in which one feels entitled to use unrestricted force against Palestinians," academy director Dany Zamir told public radio.

Heavy civilian casualties during the three-week operation which ended in the blockaded coastal strip on 18 January provoked an international outcry.

Correspondents say the testimonies undermine Israel's claims that troops took care to protect non-combatants and accusations that Hamas militants were responsible for putting civilians into harm's way. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7952603.stm>

BY Nick Triggle Health reporter, BBC News

The Patients Association said that in the wake of the highly-critical report on Stafford Hospital, the time had come for the end to the voluntary system.

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) reporting system depends on NHS trusts owning up to mistakes.

Regulators have already said the health service is not doing enough in reporting patient safety incidents.

The NPSA has been collecting data since 2003 in a bid to help the heath service learn from its mistakes.

I think the Stafford report showed that it is time to get tough on this Michael Summers, of the Patients Association

In the first year, NHS trusts were only reporting just over 100 errors every three months, but that has now increased to 250,000.

However, despite the improvement the agency is still unable to compare trusts' performance because of suspicions of under-reporting.

On top of that, 32 of the 391 NHS organisations in England and Wales did not submit any incidents or enough to be included in the latest data.

The situation prompted the Healthcare Commission to call for an improvement from NHS trusts earlier this month.

And now the Patients Association says it is time to force the NHS to comply.

Michael Summers, of the Patients Association, said: "I think the Stafford report showed that it is time to get tough on this. Hospitals need to be forced to report mistakes if we are going to protect patients." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7953556.stm>

On Christmas Eve in 1937, German businessman John Rabe visited the mortuary in China's then capital, Nanjing.

"I wanted to see these atrocities with my own eyes, so that I can speak as an eyewitness later," he wrote. "A man cannot be silent about this kind of cruelty!"

The Second Sino-Japanese War was raging.

Japanese troops had stormed the capital, carrying out mass executions and raping tens of thousands of local women and girls, in a six-week orgy of violence that became known as the Rape of Nanjing.

Risking his life, Rabe remained in China and, along with a handful of Westerners, set up a "safety zone" in Nanjing that is thought to have prevented the massacre of more than 200,000 Chinese during one of the bloodiest episodes of the Japanese invasion.

With a flash of his swastika armband and through sheer force of personality, he intervened in acts of looting and attempted rape by the Japanese troops.

The diaries of this unlikely and unsung hero only became public knowledge in the late 1990s, when they were published in Germany. They have now been made into a film, simply titled John Rabe.

The biopic, which premiered recently in Germany, may stoke historical tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. But it is hoped that Rabe's story may renew debate and ultimately help heal old wounds. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7907437.stm>

Letters from prosecutor David Maxwell Fyfe have been released at the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge.

Thought to have been lost, the letters to his wife were found by his grandson.

In one of them Mr Maxwell Fyfe refers to Hermann Goering as "the fat boy" and says he feels he "knocked him off his perch" during cross-examination.

The 205 letters between Mr Maxwell Fyfe and his wife Sylvia offer a day-by-day insider's account of the historic Nuremberg trials in 1945/6 which brought prominent Nazis to justice.

'Fat boy'

They are being released on the 63rd anniversary of Mr Maxwell Fyfe's interrogation of the leading Nazi defendant, the Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering, on 20 March 1946.

Previously unseen by others, they show how Mr Maxwell Fyfe felt he was having more impact than the American prosecutor Robert H Jackson.

He wrote to his wife: "I think that my cross examination of Goering went off all right. Everyone here was very pleased. Jackson had not only made no impression but actually built up the fat boy [Goering] further. I think I knocked him reasonably off his perch."

The letters were found several years ago by Mr Maxwell Fyfe's grandson, Tom Blackmore, in the vaults of his grandfather's firm of solicitors.

"We knew the letters had existed because my grandmother had mentioned them, but we thought they had been destroyed. To my great delight they were there," Mr Blackmore said.

"I opened them in the taxi on the way back and went through them one by one. It was very moving. They are love letters as well - they were wild about each other." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7953246.stm>

The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust says storing information leads to vulnerable people, such as young black men, single parents and children, being victimised.

It says the UK's "database state" wastes billions from the public purse and often breaches human rights laws.

But the government says the report contains "no substantive evidence" on which to base its conclusions.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the government was "never losing sight" of its obligations under the data protection and human rights acts.

"It takes its responsibilities seriously and will consider any concerns carefully, adapting existing safeguards where necessary," he added.

The government spends £16bn a year on databases and plans to spend a further £105bn on projects over five years but does not know the precise number of the "thousands" of systems it operates, the trust claims.

DATABASES CRITICISED ContactPoint: To hold name, address, gender, date of birth, school and health provider of every child in England National DNA database: Of 4.5m people whose genetic fingerprints are on the database, more than 500,000 are innocent, including 39,000 children Communications database: Plan to centralise details of calls and websites visited from phone companies and internet providers, open to 510 public authorities Onset: A profiling tool which examines a child's behaviour and social background to identify potential child offenders Detailed Care Record: When rolled out, will allow hospitals, GPs nurses and social workers to update patient's records with unmonitored "wikipedia-style" entries Source: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust

In the wake of numerous data loss scandals, the cross-party trust - which campaigns for civil liberties and social justice - examined 46 public sector systems.

It said 11 were "almost certainly" illegal under human rights or data protection laws.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7955205.stm>

Maja Sahbaz was 18 at the time and witnessed the bombing of the capital, Belgrade, where she still lives. She recalls the assault on the city and tours some of the sites which remain ruins to this day. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7953759.stm>

The US and Dutch researchers say the discovery could help devise attention-monitoring devices for workers such as air traffic control operators.

It may also help aid new treatments for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The study appears online in the journal Human Brain Mapping. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7955360.stm>

This week's meeting in Johannesburg was linked to the 2010 Football World Cup, which the country is hosting.

A storm of controversy erupted over the ban, with the government being accused of bowing to Chinese pressure.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former South African President FW de Klerk pulled out of the meeting in protest.

Despite the controversy surrounding the decision, presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe has confirmed that no visa will be issued.

"We stand by our decision. Nothing is going to change. The Dalai Lama will not be invited to South Africa. We will not give him a visa between now and the World Cup," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7960968.stm>

By Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC News, Mingora, Swat

Maulana Rahman is a qazi, or judge, in one of the newly appointed Islamic Sharia courts in Pakistan's troubled district of Swat.

He is addressing about a dozen people standing in front of the bench in the circuit courthouse of Mingora, Swat's main town.

They are led by a tall, fierce-looking man who adamantly demands an explanation for the court's decision.

He is a commander in the Swat Taleban who fought Pakistan's army to a recent standstill.

The Taleban had demanded the implementation of Islamic Sharia law here.

The government acceded and these courts are the first step in that direction.

The members of the Taleban present refused to accept the verdict and said they would take up the matter with senior Taleban commanders Court eyewitness

The move led to an outcry across Pakistan and in the international community.

Human rights activists are horrified at the possibility of punishments such as the amputation of limbs, whipping and stoning to death being implemented.

Moreover, legal experts are worried over the challenges posed by setting up a parallel legal system.

But the common people in Swat have welcomed the establishment of the courts and have thronged to them.

"We believe we will get quick and impartial justice from the Sharia courts," says Umar Hayat, a local man waiting to file his petition.

"In the past, cases used to drag on for years, but now they are settled in days. More importantly, everybody is equal in front of the law." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7959100.stm>

The centre-left Labour party is divided over whether to join a government with Mr Netanyahu's Likud and will vote on the agreement shortly.

The right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu and Orthodox Jewish Shas parties have already agreed to join a coalition.

The moderate Kadima party has so far refused to join.

Mr Netanyahu has a deadline of 3 April to build his coalition government. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7960599.stm>

By Bridget Kendall BBC diplomatic correspondent

In London, as the days lengthen and the Sun peeps out, British officials are trying to manage high hopes that April's G20 summit will somehow find a global financial cure.

But anticipation also hovers over another policy realm - nuclear security and the chance of a thaw in US-Iranian relations.

The focus is on President Barack Obama and the policy review he has ordered. Although Tehran insists its nuclear aims are peaceful, the US and its partners suspect a secret plan to develop nuclear weapons - with the potential to shake the Middle East and reawaken a global nuclear arms race.

So the West still calls on Iran to suspend its enrichment programme. And US sanctions against Iran have just been extended. But, at the same time, President Obama is making overtures.

There's the offer of direct talks if Iran "unclenches its fist"; there's the attempt to reach out to Iran on regional issues - inviting it to a big Afghanistan conference due shortly, and planning to send a US official to the next Shanghai Co-operation Council meeting of Asian countries in Moscow, which Iran will also be attending.

And now a new video message - with Farsi subtitles - from Barack Obama has assured Iranians that the US wants "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect", prompting a swift response from Iran's Supreme leader. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7958862.stm>

• The race
• 'Most Wanted'
• Right/wrong?
• The hunter
• 'Job done'

By Mario Cacciottolo BBC News

This avuncular 73-year-old is the epitome of politeness in his large office, with a photocopier whirring in the corner, brightly coloured document folders stuffed in many shelves, and cats tiptoeing over papers and desks.

But once, in 1973, Mr Klarsfeld, brandished a pistol in the street at a former World War II Nazi - Kurt Lischka, wartime Gestapo chief for Jewish affairs in France who was living comfortably in Cologne.

This was just one of many dramatic moments in the life of Mr Klarsfeld and his wife Beate, who have carried out a battle over almost 40 years to seek justice for the Nazis' victims in France.

All my troubles in the past started when Madame Klarsfeld came to Bolivia Klaus Barbie, convicted Nazi

This battle is now over, because either all those linked to the crimes are dead, or, the Klarsfelds say, there is not enough evidence to prove their guilt in court.

Mr and Mrs Klarsfeld had already failed in a previous attempt to kidnap Lischka, who was instrumental in planning the deportation and subsequent murder of thousands of French Jews and other "enemies" of the Third Reich.

Mr Klarsfeld's ploy with the gun was designed to persuade the West German government, which had been refusing all calls to prosecute Lischka, to think again.

"I went to Cologne and approached Lischka in the street. I put a gun to his forehead - he had a gun himself, but he just threw up his hands. The eyes of a man are terrible when he thinks he's going to die.

PURSUED BY THE KLARSFELDS Kurt Lischka: Responsible for deportations to concentration camps, jailed for 10 years Klaus Barbie: 'Butcher of Lyon', sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity Maurice Papon: Sentenced to 10 years in jail for helping send more than 1,600 French Jews to die in concentration camps Paul Touvier: Former aide to Klaus Barbie, executed seven Jews, convicted of crimes against humanity and jailed for life Alois Brunner: Sent tens of thousands of Jews to their deaths, convicted in absentia in 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment, last seen in Syria and considered likely to be dead

"I didn't shoot, and escaped, and then wrote to the West German government to say that if they did not deal with this man, then we could. We told them to do their duty and apply the law."

That did not happen right away, and instead a warrant was issued for both the Klarsfelds' arrest. But Lischka was eventually tried and convicted, in Cologne in 1980, receiving a 10-year prison sentence.

Mr Klarsfeld's wife Beate, 70, explains there were not actually any bullets in her husband's revolver.

The daughter of a German soldier, she left Germany in 1960 and married Serge in Paris in 1963, becoming a famed pursuer of Nazis in her own right. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7858822.stm>

The Templeton Prize, awarded for contributions to "affirming life's spiritual dimension", has been won by French physicist Bernard d'Espagnat, who has worked on quantum physics with some of the most famous names in modern science.

Quantum physics is a hugely successful theory: the predictions it makes about the behaviour of subatomic particles are extraordinarily accurate. And yet, it raises profound puzzles about reality that remain as yet to be understood.

WHAT IS QUANTUM PHYSICS? Originated in work conducted by Max Planck and Albert Einstein at start of 20th Century They discovered that light comes in discrete packets, or quanta, which we call photons The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle says certain features of subatomic particles like momentum and position cannot be known precisely at the same time Gaps remain, like attempts to find the 'God Particle' that scientists hope to spot in the Large Hadron Collider. It is required to give other particles mass

The bizarre nature of quantum physics has attracted some speculations that are wacky but the theory suggests to some serious scientists that reality, at its most basic, is perfectly compatible with what might be called a spiritual view of things.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7955846.stm>

Four rebel MPs voted with the opposition Social Democrats and Communists against PM Mirek Topolanek.

Mr Topolanek said he would step down, but correspondents say it is unclear how long he will remain in the post.

The European Commission said it was confident the Czech Republic could continue its EU role effectively.

Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek said ahead of the vote that the government could "complete the Czech EU presidency or its substantial part".

However, Mr Topolanek has ruled out the idea of a caretaker government until June, when the EU presidency passes to Sweden.

According to the constitution, Czech President Vaclav Klaus must decide who to choose to form a new administration. If three attempts to do so fail, early elections will be called. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7962177.stm>

Ms Mushthal's career choice appears to have upset the Taleban and their supporters.

She has received threatening telephone calls and abuse in the streets from people telling her to stop acting.

She told the BBC that she believes her continued defiance of those threats resulted in the shooting by unknown gunmen of her 39-year-old husband, a taxi driver, in Kabul in December.

Since then her life has been turned upside down. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7940527.stm>

By Catherine Miller BBC News, Cairo

"It's a celebration for Israel - not for Egypt, not for the Arabs, not for the Palestinians," says Issam al-Aryan of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist opposition movement which is officially banned in Egypt.

"I think the majority of Egyptians are against the treaty after 30 years."

Israel is holding events to mark what it calls a "watershed" moment, the first time an Arab nation recognised the Jewish state.

But there are no commemorations in Egypt, where discussion of the treaty focuses on concerns over Israel's new right-wing government and a campaign in the courts to stop Egypt selling its gas to Israel at below-market rates. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7964488.stm>

He said he would negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, a change of tack after being critical of previous talks.

Correspondents say the right-winger is trying to temper his image as an opponent of the peace process.

Palestinian officials said Mr Netanyahu must back the idea of a Palestinian state to be considered a partner.

The incoming prime minister, who previously led Israel from 1996 to 1999, is also coming under international pressure to publicly support a two-state solution. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7962962.stm>

By Yolande Knell BBC News, Aswan

Fifty years ago this year Egypt and Sudan asked for international help to save ancient sites threatened by the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

"It was going to submerge all the area of Nubia - monuments, people, the landscape, everything," says Costanza de Simone from the United Nations' culture agency, Unesco.

"So the two governments launched an appeal to Unesco.

"The work brought people from all over the world into Nubia, people with different backgrounds: archaeologists, engineers and geologists. They had to invent new methods and techniques.

"It changed the vision of how to preserve cultural heritage."

Over two decades the race to carry out large-scale excavations uncovered thousands of artefacts and huge monuments were carefully cut into blocks and dismantled before being rebuilt in new locations.

The most famous are the temples of Abu Simbel and Philae.

"The Nubia campaign was very important," says the head of the Egyptian supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass.

"It was the first time you saw such international cooperation.

"Egypt sent the message that our monuments don't just belong to Egypt - they belong to everyone - and that is why so many different countries participated."

Uprooted people

Experts who worked on the salvage projects are celebrating the anniversary of the campaign with events at the Nubia Museum in Aswan this week.

It was built after they finished work to display their finds and explain the distinct history of the Nubian people.

When I dream, I never dream in my village now. All my dreams are in our old Nubian one Abdallah Abdul Fattah

Tens of thousands of Nubians were moved from their ancestral homeland along the Nile - in southern Egypt and northern Sudan - because of the dam.

Many were resettled in the desert where they were unable to practise agriculture and young people left in search of work. Uprooted, they began to lose Nubian languages and customs.

"The Nubia Museum was a gift for those who sacrificed their homeland," says the director, Osama Abdul Waruth, who is Nubian himself.

"Nubian culture is one of the oldest and richest in Africa and dates back before Egyptian civilisation although this later overtook it.

"The original environment of the Nubian is to be on the shore of the Nile. It is the source of life itself - but also our myths and traditions.

"In the desert, Nubians are kept away from all their intangible heritage connected to the Nile. The living culture will disappear soon if they do not go back home."

Dreaming of home

Nubians have long been fighting to return to land by Lake Nasser, close to their original villages. It is widely believed that economic and security concerns have kept them away.

However there have been recent signs the authorities' attitudes could be changing.

The governor of Aswan has announced plans to build almost 5,000 new Nubian homes at a site chosen by community elders.

Abdallah Muhammad Abdul Fattah was a child when his family left its village in 1964.

"I still remember it with sorrow with a broken heart - you can imagine what is your feeling when you are prevented from going to your native land," he says.

"When I dream, I never dream in my village now. All my dreams are in our old Nubian one."

At a gathering to lay the cornerstone for the new development, Mr Abdul Fattah smiled broadly as Nubian children sang of the beauty of Aswan.

"All the Nubians are very happy because they are about to return to their motherland." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7963042.stm>

"Do you think the American drone raids in Afghanistan, in which women and children are killed, are actually obstructing the movement for an Islamic reformation?"

"What can be done about the alienation of young Muslim men in the UK?"

"Did you learn English in England?"

I've had an interesting range of questions at my speaking events in the US, but thankfully there have been some laughs with the audience too.

But first things first: what am I doing with a rented hybrid car on a 12,000-mile, 40-city speaking tour of America?

I'd always been grateful that Britain, the land of my upbringing, had remained remarkably tolerant of Muslims despite the shock of the 7 July bombings and continuing provocation from some extremist elements. I think there's still a good general understanding in the UK that the actions of a few do not represent all Muslims.

But I wasn't sure the same could be said for the United States - a country where I'd lived for five years and for which I'd always had great affection. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7964497.stm>

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on 6 August 1945 when a US plane dropped the first atomic bomb.

He suffered serious burns and spent a night there before returning to his home city of Nagasaki just before it was bombed on 9 August.

He said he hoped his experience held a lesson of peace for future generations. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7963581.stm>

A significant minority of mental health professionals had agreed to help at least one patient "reduce" their gay or lesbian feelings when asked to do so.

The survey, published in the journal BMC Psychiatry and conducted by London researchers, involved 1,400 therapists.

Many were acting with the "best of intentions", said the lead author.

Only 4% said they would attempt to change a client's sexual orientation, but when asked if they would help curb homosexual feelings some 17% - or one in six - said they had done so.

The incidence appeared to be as prevalent in recent years as decades earlier.

The conclusions of this research are a welcome reminder that what lesbian and gay people need is equal treatment by society, not misguided treatment by a minority of health professionals Derek Munn Stonewall

"Of course it's incumbent on a professional to assist a client who wants help, but this should be done using evidence-based therapies - exploring their distress and helping them to adjust to their situation," said Professor Michael King of University College London.

"We know now that efforts to change people's sexual orientation result in very little change and can cause immense harm.

"We found it very worrying that there was a significant minority who appeared to ignore this - even if they had all the right intentions." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7963828.stm>

These are shifting the military balance in Asia and have implications beyond the region, said the latest report by the Pentagon on China's armed forces.

It again criticised Beijing for a lack of transparency in reporting military spending and security policy.

The report also welcomed the rise of a peaceful, stable and prosperous China.

"However," it adds, "much uncertainty surrounds China's future course, particularly regarding how its expanding military power might be used." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7964924.stm>

The protesters, supporters of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, are calling for fresh elections, saying Mr Abhisit came to power illegally in December.

The rally is the biggest by Thaksin supporters since a protest camp outside parliament broke up in February.

Mr Thaksin was ousted by the military in 2006 and is living abroad.

About 10,000 police and soldiers were deployed for the protest, Bangkok police commander Lt Gen Worapong Chiwpreecha said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7965319.stm>

By Tim Franks BBC News, Jerusalem

A road is being built from the established settlement of Eli, near the Palestinian city of Nablus, leading east to the illegal outpost at Hayovel.

Settlement expansion is a major barrier to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

The international community regards all settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law.

Israel disputes this, but even under Israeli law, those newer, smaller settlements - known as outposts - which have not received authorisation from the government are deemed, by the Israeli government, to be illegal. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7965503.stm>

Artyom Krechetnikov of the BBC's Russian Service looks back at 26 March 1989, when millions of Soviet citizens had the chance to vote for a new parliamentary body that included non-Communist Party candidates for the very first time.

Mikhail Gorbachev introduced many changes with his perestroika policy when he became Soviet leader in 1985 and one of the most important went under the banner of "democratisation".

This began in earnest in January 1987, but there was still no discussion of transition to a Western-style democracy.

The authorities considered that the USSR had no problems with its version of democracy, it just needed to be "widened and deepened", to use Mikhail Gorbachev's favourite expression. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7961645.stm>

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Tehran had not yet decided who it will send to the summit in The Hague next Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier this month that Iran should attend the high-level meeting.

While the US and Iran are at odds over Tehran's nuclear plans, the two share an interest in a stable Afghanistan.<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7965529.stm>

The suburb of Gurgaon on the outskirts of the Indian capital, Delhi, is peopled by prosperous professionals living in outlandishly named condominiums with their own security and electricity.

At least, that is what most people think this showy suburb is all about - an example of the "shining" new India.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Despite the gleaming tower blocks and shiny shopping centres, Gurgaon is, officially, a "rural" election constituency - only 23% of its residents live in urban areas; and the poor "untouchables" and Muslims comprise one-third of its population.

Responsible for this "change" in Gurgaon's social character is India's massive delimitation exercise - the boundaries of 499 constituencies have been redrawn in the run up to the forthcoming 15th general elections.

In most democracies, constituency borders are redrawn from time to time in proportion to the increase in the number of people living in them. India's last delimitation exercise was held 33 years ago. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7958830.stm>

A foreign ministry spokesman called it a "gross distortion of the facts", and urged an end to "Cold War thinking".

In its annual report to Congress, the Pentagon said China was developing "disruptive" technologies for nuclear, space and cyber warfare.

It could be used to enforce claims over disputed territories, the report said.

Beijing was again criticised for a lack of transparency in reporting military spending and security policy.

"This report issued by the US side continues to play up the fallacy of China's military threat," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told journalists.

REYNOLDS' CHINA Is there enough room for two military powers off the coast of China? Read James' thoughts in full

He said Beijing had complained to Washington about it, and urged the US to "drop the Cold War thinking... to prevent further damage to the relationship between the two countries and two armies".

Tensions were heightened earlier this month after a confrontation between US and Chinese ships in China's exclusive economic zone south of Hainan, during which China accused the US of spying. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7965084.stm>

By Adam Brookes BBC News, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

The unit based here, the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, will deploy to Afghanistan in a few weeks' time. Their helicopters will be loaded onto enormous cargo planes, some onto ships, and transplanted to Kandahar.

The soldiers of the 82nd CAB fly the army's lethal Apache gunships; but they also move casualties out of combat in Blackhawk helicopters and ship ammunition, water and troops in the workhorse Chinook aircraft. They support combat troops, providing fire and mobility. In military argot, they are "enablers".

And their deployment to southern Afghanistan tells us a deal about the conflict: that it is in the south - in Kandahar and Helmand - where the US military sees the greatest insurgent threat, and the greatest need for troops and mobility. The 116 helicopters of the 82nd CAB will, they hope, greatly extend Nato's reach.

Troop build-up

They will be part of a substantial build-up of troops in the south. As part of Nato operations, they will come under the command of a Dutch general. And we found a sense among the 82nd that they are in for a bloody year.

"We're putting the squeeze on the bad guys," said Chief Warrant Officer Bert Shober.

"When we do that they tend to react, and so we will see soldiers injured or worse."

As the "Global War on Terror" fades from our lexicon, Mr Obama may set out a unifying idea to replace it

The violence in Afghanistan tends to increase through the spring and into the summer as the weather warms and formerly icebound roads become passable. It is CWO Shober's fourth deployment to a combat zone since 2001.

The commanding officer of the unit is Col Paul Bricker. His helicopters, he says, are the "coin of the realm" in Afghanistan, the only way to move fast enough across the rugged terrain.

But he insists it is not capturing terrain in the traditional sense he is interested in.

"The people are the prize," he says. "The people are the decisive terrain."

And much depends on the deployment of these "enablers", US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said: pilots, medics, engineers, mechanics, linguists, administrators, intelligence officers - all of these, and more, must be found and deployed if the military effort in Afghanistan is to be reinvigorated.

And that is President Obama's aim.

Renewed strategy

President Obama, we are told, has for some days now been reading the review of Afghan strategy that he commissioned earlier this year.

Some version of that document is expected to make its way into a speech on Friday. Expect America's foreign policy "principals" - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser James Jones and others - to flank Mr Obama as he announces it.

Some of the broad outlines of a renewed strategy for the Afghan war are already clear:

• The war will continue. The US will intensify its military effort for some time to come, and it will encourage Nato allies to do the same. The aim: to provide security within which an enhanced civilian and reconstruction effort can take root
• There will be an overhaul of the Afghan effort - and a much greater emphasis on coordination and cooperation between countries and agencies
• The president will argue that what happens inside Pakistan is central to the Afghan theatre. His strategy will try to draw together Afghanistan policy and Pakistan policy into a coherent whole
• Afghan security forces will, one day, take over security operations and allow foreign forces to draw down
• Other, non-Nato countries like China and Russia will be asked to support the effort, or at least not oppose it.

But we might expect President Obama to tell us more than just how the US intends to proceed in Afghanistan.

What, after seven years of operations, is the United States trying to achieve, and why?

As the "Global War on Terror" fades from our lexicon, Mr Obama may set out a unifying idea to replace it. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7967002.stm>

By Elizabeth Blunt BBC News, Addis Ababa

To start with all went well.

But now he finds himself at odds with the AU's Peace and Security Council over its policy on Mauritania, which has been suspended since a coup d'etat last August.

On a visit to the Mauritanian capital earlier this month, the Libyan leader announced that since the current military leadership had promised to organise elections in June, everything was fine and the file was now closed.

Not so, says the AU Peace and Security Council.

The council says it is still determined to go ahead and impose sanctions on whoever is acting to maintain what it calls "the present anti-constitutional situation in Mauritania" <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7966318.stm>

She suffered many years of abuse before she finally told her mother what had been going on.

Fatima is now 26. She lives in the United States of America where she has just been given asylum and citizenship after establishing that she would be in danger if she returned to her home country. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7966086.stm>

The Caesium-137 may be buried in a scrap yard under tonnes of metal, and local officials believe it could have been melted down.

The lead ball was lost when workers at a cement plant tore down an old factory in the north-western Shaanxi Province.

The material was part of a measuring instrument and is extremely toxic.

The smallest amount can cause infertility, cancer and even death.

Eight trucks worth of scrap were sold to local steel mills. Tongchuan city officials believe the radioactive material - and its protective container - are likely to have been melted down.

Plants in the area are now being tested for radioactivity.

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Beijing says China has an appalling record on industrial safety - there are around 30 cases of radioactive material being lost every year.

In Tongchuan last July a farmer was arrested after he stole a similar radioactive container and attempted to sell it for scrap. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7967285.stm>

Downing Street said the scrapping of the ban on heirs to the throne marrying Roman Catholics was also discussed.

Mr Brown told the BBC that people living in the 21st Century expected discrimination to be removed.

Meanwhile a BBC poll suggests public support for reform, with 80% wanting equal succession rights for women.

A Private Members' Bill aimed at ending the discrimination is due to be debated but the government is not backing it.

But speaking during his visit to Brazil the prime minister said: "There are clearly issues about the exclusion of people from the rights of succession and there are clearly issues that have got to be dealt with.

BBC POLL: THE PUBLIC SPEAKS Equal rights for royal women? - 89% yes Heir allowed to marry Catholic? - 81% yes British monarchy to continue? - 76% yes 1,000 people polled by ICM Research, 20-22 March 2009 Why the monarchy discriminates Send us your comments

"This is not an easy set of answers.

"But I think in the 21st Century people do expect discrimination to be removed and they do expect us to be looking at all these issues".

The BBC's poll also suggests 76% of Britons want the monarchy to continue after the Queen.

The legislation on reform has been introduced by Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris, to end the "uniquely discriminatory" rules laid down in the 1701 Act of Settlement.

For centuries the rules have endured but now the government has indicated that it is prepared to look at it again, said BBC political correspondent Ben Wright.

Downing Street confirmed the prime minister would raise the prospect of the major reforms at a Commonwealth summit in November, and that dialogue with Buckingham Palace was ongoing.

Such reform would need the backing of the 15 other Commonwealth countries which have the British monarch as head of state.

Sources at Number 10 have said while the government supports the "principles and objectives" of the bill, it would not support the bill itself.

Dr Harris has cross-party support for his proposals, but a Ministry of Justice spokesman said while the government "stood firmly against discrimination" there were no immediate plans to legislate because the changes required were "complex". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7967142.stm>

It said the Pope's recent comments that condoms exacerbated the problem of HIV/Aids were wildly inaccurate and could have devastating consequences.

The Pope had said the "cruel epidemic" should be tackled through abstinence and fidelity rather than condom use.

Correspondents say the attack from the Lancet was unprecedentedly virulent.

Speaking during his first visit to Africa, the Pope said HIV/Aids was "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem".

The Pope said "the traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids".

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the Church's view is that encouraging people to use condoms only minimises the effects of behaviour that in itself damages lives. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7967173.stm>

By Nikki Jecks, BBC World Service BBC News, Jerusalem

The debut production by the drama students of the Freedom Theatre is being staged in the Jenin refugee camp.

Not that long ago Jenin was a stronghold for Palestinian militants and widely considered a no-go area for foreigners.

Now, Freedom Theatre, the West Bank's only full-time drama school, is bussing in audience members from Ramallah, Bethlehem and surrounding villages - even from Israel.

The play is a sign of a slow return to normality for a camp once renowned for its violence and bitter battles with Israeli troops.

But the production has not been welcomed by all. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7968812.stm>

By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News

He and his family say that in a strange way, they were relieved by the diagnosis of MS - they thought his blurred vision and continuous vomiting were the probable signs of a brain tumour.

In the first 15 months after diagnosis George had seven relapses.

Symptoms ranged from slurred speech, difficulty walking and losing feeling in his body - this was so severe he could not feel temperatures and after some nasty burns had to resort to testing bath water by drinking it.

Peer support

He knew little about his condition, which affects the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), but as he was told it was mainly a disease diagnosed in young people he expected a lot of peer support.

However he says this was not the case. "I found it very difficult to find young people like me. All the people I met at the hospital clinics people were far older.

There are a number of tricky issues where sharing experiences can help such as how to tell a date that you have MS? George Pepper

"Peer support would have been a great benefit."

So George from Leeds decided to help fill the gaps he experienced - setting up a website 'Shift. ms.' to tackle the issues that young people like himself were concerned with - including dating, sex, starting a family, work and long-term-relationships. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7965363.stm>

By analysing links between users of social sites, researchers were able to identify many people in supposedly anonymous data sets.

The anonymised data is produced by social sites who sell it to marketing firms to generate cash.

The results suggest web firms should do more to protect users' privacy, said the researchers.

Circle of friends

Computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Dr Vitaly Shmatikov, from the University of Texas at Austin, developed the algorithm which turned the anonymous data back into names and addresses.

The data sets are usually stripped of personally identifiable information, such as names, before it is sold to marketing companies or researchers keen to plumb it for useful information.

Before now, it was thought sufficient to remove this data to make sure that the true identities of subjects could not be reconstructed.

The algorithm developed by the pair looks at relationships between all the members of a social network - not just the immediate friends that members of these sites connect to.

Social graphs from Twitter, Flickr and Live Journal were used in the research.

The pair found that one third of those who are on both Flickr and Twitter can be identified from the completely anonymous Twitter graph. This is despite the fact that the overlap of members between the two services is thought to be about 15%.

The researchers suggest that as social network sites become more heavily used, then people will find it increasingly difficult to maintain a veil of anonymity.

The results also had implications for the social sites themselves, wrote the researchers.

"Social-network operators should stop relying on anonymisation as the 'get out of jail' card, insofar as user privacy is concerned," they said.

"They should inform users when their information is disclosed to third parties, even if this information has been anonymised, and give them the opportunity to opt out," they added.

Writing about their work, the two researchers said many different organisations might be interested in reconstructing the true identities.

They suggest that the information might be useful to governments interested in large scale monitoring or unscrupulous marketing firms keen to reach certain individuals. Even phishing gangs might be interested, they speculate, to make their messages look more convincing.

The pair will present a paper about their work to the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy taking place in California from 17-20 May. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7967648.stm>

Just under six years ago, after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime at the end of the 2003 war, which had lasted barely three weeks, Baghdad at night was, to borrow from Dylan Thomas, Bible-black.

A capital city of seven million people, and I looked up and could see the stars, clearly making out the shape of the Plough, or the Big Dipper as it is called in America.

The only light came from a full moon, car headlamps, and the flames on charcoal barbeques, flaring up when the fat dripped onto the coals.

A few businesses had generators. A pharmacy down the road from my hotel shone out in the dark, a great pool of light spilling on to the pavement and the street.

Six years on, Baghdad is lighter at night, but the electricity supply has not been sorted out yet. There is more supply, but not nearly enough.

For several years, suicide attacks here were so common they became routine

There is also much more demand, because thousands of people here now have air conditioners, fridge-freezers and washing machines - and they did not before. 

So traders who sell petrol generators make a good living. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7968376.stm>

Human rights lawyers brought the case against the six, who all served under former President George W Bush.

Among those named was former defence official Douglas Feith, who said the charges against him "made no sense".

Spanish courts can prosecute offences such as torture or war crimes even if they occurred in other countries.

The former officials - who include ex-Attorney-General Alberto Gonzalez - could face arrest on leaving the US if the courts decide to issue warrants. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7970425.stm>

He was appointed CBE in 2007, for services to literature and drama. Here he briefly tells BBC News his thoughts about religion. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7895604.stm>

They said the network had infiltrated 1,295 computers in 103 countries.

They included computers belonging to foreign ministries and embassies and those linked with the Dalai Lama - Tibet's spiritual leader.

There is no conclusive evidence China's government was behind it, researchers say. Beijing also denied involvement.

The report, Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network, comes after a 10-month investigation by the Information Warfare Monitor (IWM), which comprises researchers from Ottawa-based think tank SecDev Group and the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies.

They were acting on a request from the Tibetan spiritual leader's office to check whether the computers of his Tibetan exile network had been infiltrated.

Researchers found that ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan appear to had been targeted.

Hacked systems were also discovered in the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan.

Analysts say the attacks are in effect industrial espionage, with hackers showing an interest in the activities of lawmakers and major companies. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7970471.stm>

By Barbara Plett BBC News, Islamabad

The unprecedented broadside followed the announcement by the US President Barack Obama of a new strategy for Afghanistan.

Mr Obama cited as its cornerstone the need to destroy militant safe havens in the Pakistani tribal belt along the Afghan border, something he knows can't be achieved without complete cooperation from the country's army and intelligence.

To win, or compel, such support, the president and his generals have offered a mixture of incentives and warnings: for example, an increase in civilian aid alongside a warning that there's no "blank cheque" for the military if it doesn't perform.

The charges against the ISI seem to be part of the latter. They are not new, but have never before been made so publicly.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said elements of the ISI maintain links with militants on Pakistan's borders with both Afghanistan and India.

General David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command, spoke of cases "in the fairly recent past" where the ISI appeared to have warned militants that their positions had been discovered.

Collusion charge

According to the New York Times, Pakistani support to Taleban commanders extends to "money, military supplies and strategic planning guidance".

Last year Washington's suspicions were such that it scaled down intelligence sharing with the ISI, especially after accusing it of involvement in the July bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.

The charge of collusion is rigorously denied by Pakistani officials.

They insist top levels of the army and intelligence agencies were purged of ideological officers after 2001, when the government dropped its open support for the Taleban and fell in with what the US called its War on Terror.

They point out that Pakistan has lost more soldiers in fighting the Taleban and al-Qaeda on the Afghan border than all of the Nato forces combined; and that American officials acknowledge the ISI has captured more al-Qaeda operatives than any other intelligence agency.

Within the security establishment there is a belief that the ISI is being used as a scapegoat for coalition failures in Afghanistan.

However, few independent Pakistani analysts doubt the intelligence agency maintains links with Islamist militants, especially the Afghan Taleban who have sanctuary in the border region.

"The army will operate against militant groups that it defines as anti-Pakistan," says one informed observer who spoke off-the-record.

"But it will not go after those groups that have a purely Afghan agenda, like the Afghan Taleban. Not at least until the United States listens to what the army regards as Pakistan's legitimate regional concerns." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7971128.stm>

The Qatar gathering appears doomed to fall far short of what some had hoped it would be - the crowning moment for inter-Arab reconciliations that would see a closing of ranks in the face of major regional challenges.

A rift has grown in recent weeks, symbolised by the glaring absence of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the most populous and arguably most politically weighty Arab state, one which ironically normally aspires to the role of chief regional broker and conciliator.

A bonding strategic understanding between the Arab nations is seen as particularly important at the moment, in the face of at least two significant issues.

One is the expected emergence of a new, largely right-wing government in Israel, whose commitment to the widely-accepted premise for peace with the Palestinians - two states living side by side - is in some doubt.

The other is the role of Iran, which Saudi Arabia and some other conservative Arab states fear could be bolstered by the dialogue which US President Barack Obama says he wants to open with Tehran.

The weeks preceding the summit have seen a series of moves aimed at bringing about a healing of long-standing rifts.

Some progress was made. But the absence of such a key player as Mr Mubarak - whose place was taken by a low-ranking minister - made it clear that there is still a long way to go.

The basic divide is between those countries seen by their adversaries as being in thrall to the US, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other conservative states; and those seen by the latter as being in league with Iran, such as Syria, Qatar and others.

Syria, which makes no secret of its strategic alliance with non-Arab Iran, has seen a perceptible warming of its relations with Saudi Arabia recently, and to a lesser extent with Egypt.

But it has refused to break with Tehran, and the basic rift remains. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7971255.stm>

By Guy De Launey BBC News, Phnom Penh

A considered approach from the international co-prosecutor at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal is, perhaps, only to be expected.

But this veteran of several international criminal courts usually has a way with a snappy answer which can leave the journalist on the receiving end feeling they should have followed a different line of inquiry.

This time, however, the Canadian official seems momentarily flummoxed. He has just been asked whether, bearing in mind the difficulties the Khmer Rouge Tribunal has faced over the past three years, he is optimistic that other defendants will follow the former prison chief known as Comrade Duch into the trial chamber at the special courts.

A long, drawn-out exhalation follows a sharp intake of breath and a grimace. The prosecutor's fingers rub at his forehead. Ten seconds pass. When Mr Petit finally speaks, his words are punctuated by an occasional half-laugh. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7970881.stm>

Speaking at a UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia, Kaing Guek Eav - also known as Duch - expressed "regretfulness and heartfelt sorrow" for his actions.

Duch is accused of torture, crimes against humanity and premeditated murder for his alleged role in the deaths of more than 10,000 people.

The Khmer Rouge killed two million people in their four years in power.

"May I be permitted to apologise to the survivors of the regime, and also the loved ones of those who died brutally during the regime," Duch told the court.

"I ask not that you forgive me now, but hope you will later." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7973463.stm>

But the arrest of a prominent leader of one of the groups may signal a wavering of loyalty to the government among some of the fighters, says the BBC's Hugh Sykes in Baghdad.

The Awakening fighters in the Fadhil neighbourhood of Baghdad look as if they are in control.

Their deputy leader, Khaled al Qaisi, strode into Fadhil alongside Faris Abdel Hassan, who runs a comparable group in the neighbouring Shia district of Abu Saifain.

They both operate checkpoints and foot patrols.

Faris arrived in a pickup truck, two men with rifles standing on the back.

He and Khaled greeted each other with kisses on the cheek and arms across the shoulder.

They declared they were "brothers", committed to the unity of Iraq - "one heart, one people," Khaled promised.

"Whatever he says, I agree," said Faris.

When I walked around Fadhil early on Saturday afternoon, the mood was cheerful and friendly.

Shops were open, children were playing, and men were playing backgammon in a small café.

Behind an alluring display of bananas, cucumbers and shiny red apples, Ahmad - cigarette in one hand - told me security was good.

"Why?" I asked.

"Sahwa," he replied - the Awakening.

Front line

Two years ago, Fadhil was a front line in fighting between al-Qaeda in Iraq and militias in the Shia neighbourhoods that encircle it.

Many buildings are scarred with the impact of gunfire.

About an hour after I left Fadhil, the mood there was no longer cheerful and friendly.

Local fighters and the Iraqi army were shooting at each other - Iraqi TV news showed men in uniform running through narrow alleyways, sometimes ducking for cover.

Adil al Mashadani... extorted bribes in excess of $160,000 a month from the citizens of Fadhil Iraqi authorities press release

There were snipers on rooftops.

An American helicopter growled overhead.

Iraqi security forces - supported by US troops - had arrested Adil al Mashadani, the leader of the Fadhil Awakening group.

His men responded with fury, indignation - and gunfire.

Five Iraqi soldiers - including an officer, according to one report - were taken hostage. Their fate is still unknown.

A photograph published on an official website shows Mr Mashadani standing in an office of the Ministry of the Interior, his wrists cuffed in front of him. He is wearing a beige polo shirt - with his name scrawled in English on white tape stuck across his chest.

He faces numerous charges.

A press release from the Multi-National Force in Iraq says he is suspected of leading a cell that has attacked and killed Iraqi security forces with IEDs - roadside bombs.

They also believe he operated mortar or rocket teams, and "extorted bribes in excess of $160,000 (£113,000) a month from the citizens of Fadhil", as the press release puts it.

The Iraqi authorities have made another serious accusation against Mr Mashadani - that he maintained links with remnants of the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

The Centre for Imposing Law on Baghdad - set up under the "surge" of US troops in 2007 - says Mr Mashadani was running a new military wing of the old Ba'ath Party.

The Ba'ath Party is proscribed under the new Iraqi constitution.

If this is true, it is a profoundly worrying development.

But it would not be a surprise.

Numerous Iraqis have told me they do not believe the new peace here is permanent.

They say many members of the old regime remain angry that they lost their status, their power and their income when the armed forces and the Ba'ath Party were disbanded in the early days of the occupation of Iraq - angry, and determined to get their power back.

One former Ba'athist asked me rhetorically four years ago, when the insurgency was accelerating:"What should they do? Sit in their kitchens with their wives? Do you expect them to sing and dance?"

"They can do anything and they can do everything," he added.

A widely expressed fear here is that these "remnants" have been only temporarily suppressed by the surge - and that they are "sitting on their hands" waiting to resume their activities when American forces leave. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7972784.stm>

By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Conficker has infected up to 15 million computers to date and is set to change the way it works on Wednesday.

There have been some reports the worm could trigger poisoned machines to access personal files, send spam, clog networks or crash sites.

"We don't know what will happen but don't expect anything dramatic," Symantec's Vincent Weafer told the BBC.

He added: "We believe the software is geared towards making money. The characteristics of this type of worm is to keep it slow and low, keep it under the radar to slowly maximise profits over the long term."

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme

Symantec's vice president of security response Mr Weafer, said; "We are going to be on high alert for a long time. Come April 2nd we will still be watching while most people will have moved their focus elsewhere."

Origins

Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, first appeared last November. The worm is self replicating and has attacked a vulnerability in machines using Microsoft's Windows operating system, the software that runs most computers.

It can infect machines via a net connection or by hiding on USB memory drives used to ferry data from one computer to another. Once in a computer, it digs deeps, setting up defences making it hard to extract.

Among those affected by the virus have been the House of Commons and the defence forces of the UK, Germany and France.

The reason for the hype and the concern around Conficker is that 1 April is the day the worm is set to change the way it updates itself, moving to a system that is much harder to combat.

Five months ago a consortium of web security firms banded together to form the Conficker Working Group to learn more about the worm and try to stop it.

Last weekend the team located what they call a 'fingerprint' or 'signature' for the virus that means they can detect how an infected machine can be identified on a network much quicker than previously.

Security researcher Dan Kaminsky, a member of the group and director of penetration testing at IOActive, told the BBC this was a major breakthrough.

"We know these bad guys are in places they really shouldn't be. With this new trick it is much easier to find them. It means we can say okay I don't know what will <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7973131.stm>

A lawyer who was appointed for Ajmal Amir Qasab has said she is resigning from the case, after a crowd of protesters gathered outside her home.

The state government has now promised to give the lawyer Anjali Waghmare police protection.

Qasab has been charged with murder and "waging war" against India.

He has told the court he was from Pakistan's Punjab province and asked for a lawyer.

After the attacks, Indian lawyers had refused to represent Qasab.

Intimidation

Anjali Waghmare was only appointed by a judge on Monday morning. She said she would withdraw on the evening of the same day.

A crowd of people - many of them from the Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena - had surrounded her house in Mumbai chanting slogans.

Stones were thrown and several arrests are reported to have been made.

Ms Waghmare is the second lawyer reportedly to withdraw from the case after intimidation.

The special public prosecutor involved in the Qasab trial has strongly condemned those involved in this latest protest.

He said it would send the wrong signal to the world about whether Qasab could get a fair trial in India.

More than 170 people were killed in the Mumbai attacks, and feelings are still running high, says the BBC's Chris Morris in Delhi.

The charge sheet relating to November's attacks runs to more than 11,000 pages.

Qasab has been charged under various acts, including murder, attempted murder and damaging public property.

OTHER MAIN QASAB CHARGES Firing at CST train station Firing inside and outside Cama Hospital Hijacking of Skoda vehicle Murder of MV Kuber boatman Firing at Girgaum Chowpatty beach

His trial, which is due to begin in April, is to be held in Mumbai's maximum-security Arthur Road jail.

He could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Officials say the charge sheet against Qasab and other accused contains details of evidence pertaining to how the alleged conspiracy was hatched, how the gunmen entered Mumbai and the training in Pakistan.

Mumbai police say they are confident of their case because of the weight of evidence.

Relations between India and Pakistan have worsened considerably since the November attacks.

As well as accusing Lashkar-e-Taiba of being behind the attacks, India suggested that "state actors" in Pakistan were also involved.

Delhi has submitted a list of suspects to Pakistan and demanded they be handed over. Both Pakistan and Lashkar have denied involvement.

However, Pakistan's investigation last month found that at least nine suspected attackers had sailed from Karachi to Mumbai in three boats in November.

Pakistan says it has indicted eight people, six of whom have already been arrested, and that any trials will take place on its soil. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7973452.stm>

 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7972055.stm>

He said the attack was "in retaliation for the continued drone strikes by the US in collaboration with Pakistan on our people".

He also claimed responsibility for two other recent deadly attacks.

Baitullah Mehsud said the attacks would continue "until the Pakistan government stops supporting the Americans".

Security officials are interrogating at least four suspects captured after the attack, police say.

We will continue our attacks until the Pakistan government stops supporting the Americans Pakistan Taleban chief Baitullah Mehsud Profile: Baitullah Mehsud

Eighteen people, including two civilians, eight policemen and eight militants, were killed and 95 people were injured during the eight-hour battle to wrest back control of the academy, the interior ministry says.

Pakistan's interior minister earlier identified the Taleban as well as other extremist groups as possible perpetrators, and suggested a foreign state could also be involved. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7973540.stm>

The UN called the one-day conference amid widespread concern that not enough progress had been made since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Support for Afghan reconstruction is being sought beyond the mainly Western countries which have troops there.

The US is hoping Iran, among others, will show a "constructive" approach.

Tehran is sending a deputy foreign minister, Mohammad Mehdi Akhoondzadeh, to the conference.

The launch point for the international recommitment to the effort in Afghanistan and western Pakistan How US special envoy Richard Holbrooke described the conference US strategy focus of Afghan talks

"The fact that they accepted the invitation to come suggests that they believe there is a role for them to play and we are looking forward to hearing more about that," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters travelling with her to The Hague.

The biggest challenge to the new initiative is that Afghanistan's regional neighbours - Iran, China, the Central Asian republics, India and Pakistan - do not all agree how to achieve Afghan stability, or even whether they should help at all, says the BBC's international development correspondent, David Loyn.

Policy-makers in the US and the UN all agree that mistakes have been made since 2001, but do not yet agree on how they can improve the situation, our correspondent adds. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7973378.stm>

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, jointly announced that the US would stand for election to the body.

The 47-member council is due to hold its next round of elections on 15 May.

The Bush administration criticised the council because it admitted states with poor human rights records.

The council's repeated criticism of Israel and failure to comment on rights abuses elsewhere, such as Sudan, further antagonised the Obama administration's predecessor.

Based in Geneva, the council was created in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights, which had widely been seen as ineffective.

Current members of the council include China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the Obama administration's move as "an important step", a spokesman said.

"Full US engagement on human rights issues is an important step toward realising the goal of an inclusive and vibrant intergovernmental process to protect human rights around the globe," the spokesman added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7975611.stm>

By Max Deveson BBC News, Washington

And US President Barack Obama has arrived in London for the G20 summit with a large contingent of the White House staff with him.

Hundreds of security guards, doctors, chefs and others are accompanying President Obama on his visit, and the entourage includes a number of presidential vehicles - including his new armour-plated limousine, The Beast, and aeroplane, Air Force One.

The 4,000 sq ft Boeing 747 is fully equipped for the president to work while he is in the air. The exercise-loving president will even be able to use the onboard gym to keep fit inflight.

The plane is fitted with some robust security equipment including shields to protect its instruments from an electromagnetic pulse. The communications equipment is even capable of withstanding radiation from a nuclear attack. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7973274.stm>

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius said she had recently corrected her tax returns and paid almost $8,000 (£5,560) in back-taxes for 2005-2007.

Ms Sebelius is due to testify at the US Senate on Thursday.

Tom Daschle, Mr Obama's first choice as health secretary, withdrew over questions about his taxes.

He stepped down after it emerged that he had failed to pay some $140,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.

Another nomination, that of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was criticised for his late payment of taxes, though he was eventually confirmed.

In a letter to the heads of the Senate Finance Committee, where Ms Sebelius is due to testify on Thursday as part of her confirmation process, she said the back-payments were the result of "unintentional errors".

They involved charity donations, a house sale, and business expenses and came to light in a review of their tax returns ordered ahead of the confirmation, she said.

She said that together with her husband she had paid $7,040 in additional tax and $878 in interest.

Max Baucus, the Democratic head of the committee expressed his support for Ms Sebelius.

"Congress is going to need a strong partner at the Department of Health and Human Services to achieve comprehensive health reform this year, and we have that partner in Governor Sebelius," he said in a statement.

Mr Obama has put affordable healthcare at the core of his domestic programme. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7976299.stm>

"The Annapolis conference, it has no validity," Avigdor Lieberman said in his first speech since taking office.

He was speaking at a handover ceremony at the foreign ministry, prompting his predecessor Tzipi Livni to interrupt and diplomats to shift uncomfortably.

The Annapolis process was meant to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian leaders say Mr Lieberman's stance could undermine stability.

"There is one document that obligates us - and that's not the Annapolis conference, it has no validity," Mr Lieberman said.

"The Israeli government never ratified Annapolis, nor did parliament," he added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7977002.stm>

By Sherif Maher BBC Arabic Service

The film, called One Love, tells the story of a Christian woman who is granted a divorce but cannot remarry because of the strict rules of the Egyptian Coptic Church.

The film is the latest in a series of dramatic works which focus on Christian issues and characters.

Starring Elham Shahin and Khaled Abou El Naja, the movie deals with the social circumstances of the Egyptian middle class.

Within its plot and subplots, the film follows the tragic story of the heroine who wants to remarry.

She rejects a solution proposed by her lawyer that would allow her to get married again - convert to Islam - and instead conducts an illicit affair with the hero played by El Naja.

The rules of the Coptic Church prohibit its members from remarrying, with two exceptions: if one party proves adultery by the other or if one of the two parties converts to another religion. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7974855.stm>

M'danao hostage crises show govt impotence - analysts

Venezuelan beauty queen Dayana Mendoza visited the centre and wrote about it on the Miss Universe blog on 27 March.

Her remarks that she "didn't want to leave" the "calm and beautiful" place attracted some scathing reactions.

Her blog entry has now been removed, while a statement has been uploaded explaining the motives of her trip.

Former detainees and human rights groups have alleged that torture - including "waterboarding" (simulated drowning) - took place at the camp.

Used to hold captives deemed "enemy combatants" in former President George W Bush's "war on terror", it became one of the most contentious symbols of his administration.

President Barack Obama has ordered the closure of the camp, which now holds around 240 inmates, by early next year. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7976207.stm>

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7976083.stm>

By Jane O'Brien BBC News, Washington

The US has already lost more than a third of the indigenous languages that existed before European colonisation, and the remaining 192 are classed by Unesco as ranging between "unsafe" and "extinct".

As recently as 2008, the Alaskan tongue Eyak became officially extinct with the death of Marie Smith Jones, the last native speaker.

"We need more funding and more effort to return these languages to everyday use," says Fred Nahwooksy, of the National Museum of the American Indian.

"We are making progress but money needs to be spent on revitalising languages, not just documenting them. A lot of tribal communities say that is a defeatist attitude, as if these languages are expected to become extinct." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7964016.stm>

By Nikki Jecks BBC World Service

The novel is set in Brixton in south London, and it offers a view of London as seen through the eyes of its migrant population, particularly Africa's dispossessed.

Hence, Harare North, the title and ironic name the book's unnamed hero gives to London.

He arrives in London as an illegal immigrant hoping to make enough money to pay off his debts and bribe his way out of a series of charges he is facing back in Zimbabwe.

He plans to stay just long enough to achieve this, hoping to return quickly to Zimbabwe - the land made great, he believes, by his idol Robert Mugabe.

While he is in London, the Zimbabwean dollar begins its perilous descent, and his unflinching support of Robert Mugabe begins to cause problems among his new found friends.

But the author says the novel is not about Zimbabwean politics and British immigration policy.

Instead, he says it is about the people his narrator meets on the streets of Brixton and in the illegal squat that eventually becomes his home.

"What I was trying to bring out is almost a different class of urban people who exist...this kind of underclass of people living in very squalid conditions and trying to make ends [meet] under very difficult circumstances," says Chikwava.

"They are hidden from view, this is what I find interesting." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7972962.stm>

As a row raged over the new Israeli government's stance, the White House said Barack Obama looked forward to working with Israel's new leaders.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said the government will not be held by commitments made by its predecessors.

A US-hosted 2007 agreement had, he declared, "no validity".

Each side had agreed at talks in Annapolis to further discussions aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state.

But Mr Lieberman, an ultra-nationalist, argues that the accord was never ratified either by the Israeli government or parliament.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the world should put pressure on the new Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We want to tell the world that this man doesn't believe in peace and therefore we cannot deal with him," he told an Arab summit in Qatar.

'Close friend'

US state department spokesman Gordon Duguid would not be drawn into commenting on Mr Lieberman's views, when he briefed reporters in Washington.

Instead, he stressed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's stated commitment to achieving peace.

"Israel is a close friend and ally and we remain unalterably committed to Israel's security," he said.

"We will work closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu's government to advance the cause of peace and stability in the Middle East, and move the parties in the direction of a two-state solution."

Mr Obama, who is in London for the G20 summit, has telephoned Mr Netanyahu to congratulate him on his new coalition government, the White House said.

"The president said he looked forward to working closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to address issues of mutual concern, including Iran and Arab-Israeli peace," its statement added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7977982.stm>

Airbus ordered checks on all staff working in Germany from 2005 to 2007, the company acknowledged.

The checks were to see if workers' bank account numbers matched those of suppliers. No wrongdoing was found.

The head of Germany's national rail operator Deutsche Bahn resigned this week after the company also admitted to spying on thousands of its employees.

At that time, an internal comparison of data was regarded as being legally permissible Airbus Deutsche Bahn shaken by spying scandal

The Airbus checks, which were ordered by former management at the company's German business, emerged in an audit launched by current management.

"At that time, an internal comparison of data was regarded as being legally permissible," Airbus said.

However, it added that it would not do anything like this again.

Staff were immediately informed of the matter. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7978713.stm>

The media regulator said the fine reflected "the extraordinary nature and seriousness of the BBC's failures" and the "resulting breaches" of its code.

The BBC said it accepted Ofcom's findings and added that the material "should never have been broadcast".

Brand resigned over the affair and Ross was suspended for three months.

The fine relates to two episodes of the Russell Brand show broadcast on 18 and 25 October 2008.

'Gratuitously offensive'

Ofcom said the BBC broadcast explicit, intimate and confidential information about Georgina Baillie, the granddaughter of the Fawlty Towers actor, without obtaining consent either from her or Sachs.

OFCOM FINES BBC Read Ofcom's Russell Brand show ruling in full [249 KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

"This not only unwarrantably and seriously infringed their privacy but was also gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning," it said.

Ofcom fined the corporation £70,000 for breaching rules on generally accepted standards and offensive material.

It also imposed a £80,000 fine for failing to adhere to rules which protect members of the public from unwarranted infringements of privacy.

Ofcom has also directed Radio 2 to broadcast a summary of its findings. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7981078.stm>

Police said Mr Lieberman was questioned under caution on suspicion of "bribery, money-laundering and breach of trust" as part of an ongoing investigation.

Mr Lieberman was sworn in as foreign minister on Tuesday.

He has previously denied any wrong-doing and says the corruption probe against him is politically motivated.

Police confirmed that the interview had been scheduled in advance with Mr Lieberman.

Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said Mr Lieberman had been questioned over the long-standing investigation into his business dealings, the Associated Press reported.

The accusations are believed to relate to a company run by Mr Lieberman's daughter.

A spokesman for Mr Lieberman said it was "the same investigation that has been ongoing for the past 13 years and which he has petitioned the courts to have speeded up.

"He co-operated fully with police investigators and answered all their questions and enjoyed drinking their coffee," said the unnamed spokesman. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7979666.stm>

The young man had a police crew cut and bulging biceps.

As he came forward to speak to me, he was still trembling. He seemed shocked to be alive.

"We were taking our places on the parade ground for inspection, when there was an explosion. Then gunfire," he told me.

"It was chaos. Everyone ran. I hid behind a fruit stall for hours before I could escape."

As he talked to me, a sudden commotion broke out. Nearby a gunman had been arrested.

Minutes later, an explosion deafened us. My translator and I grasped at each other in fear.

Lahore - a city traditionally known for its tolerance and culture - was under siege

The rooftop, where we took cover for eight hours, was across the road from the police training school.

Gunmen had stormed the compound, disguised as police cadets.

The air, swirling with heat and dust, was also thick with noise - shouts, sirens, sustained gunfire, swooping military helicopters and bursting grenades.

Lahore - a city traditionally known for its tolerance and culture - was under siege. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7980735.stm>

Local officials in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, said the dead included women and children as well as militants - some of them foreigners.

But a Taleban spokesman denied this, saying all those killed were civilians.

The US military does not routinely confirm drone attacks, but US forces in Afghanistan are believed to be the only ones in the region with the capability.

Pakistan is critical of drone use because, it says, civilians are often killed, fuelling support for militants. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7982880.stm>

By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

It is already at war in Afghanistan, about as far away as could be from the plains and cities of western Europe it was set up to defend against the Red Army.

Now there is talk of a new strategic doctrine, one that would give it the freedom to intervene even more in conflicts around the world.

Take note of the words of US President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser General James Jones. He was once Nato's supreme commander and has ideas about Nato's future.

Ukraine and Georgia have been promised membership eventually but in practical terms that would create a new crisis with Russia Security high for key Nato summit Profile: Nato

In a speech in February he said: "Nato is as relevant to our common security in the first half of the 21st Century as it was to our common defence in the second half of the 20th Century."

He laid out what he thought Nato's new role should be: "Nato must also change. It needs to become less reactive and more proactive. I think it needs to become less rigid and more flexible. It needs to become less stationary and more expeditionary."

Gen Jones listed the types of threat that Nato should adapt itself to meet as he seeks to widen the concept of defence into the concept of security.

It is a long list - terrorism, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the spread of nuclear and chemical weapons and cyber-technologies, overdependence on fossil fuels, regional and ethnic conflicts, poverty and corruption, narcotics and economic chaos.

And that list does not even include Nato's still primary role of defending its members against external attack.

These days that threat is largely theoretical, though some Eastern and Central European members still fear Russia, especially after the Russian action against Georgia last summer. It is a club everyone in Eastern and Central Europe still wants to join - Albania and Croatia did so only this week. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7980897.stm>

US President Barack Obama said his alliance partners would deploy about 5,000 troops and trainers "to advance [Washington's] new strategy".

The summit in Strasbourg also agreed to appoint Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen as Mr Scheffer's replacement.

Anti-Nato protesters fought police and set buildings alight in the city.

They set a hotel and a customs house on fire and three columns of smoke could be seen rising over the Europe Bridge area of the French city, across from the small town of Kehl in Germany, where part of the summit was held.

French police again used tear gas against protesters and 25 people were arrested, adding to dozens detained in the run-up to the gathering. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7982821.stm>

Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver were grouped with the rest of the 30-member cabinet for their inaugural photo.

But Yated Neeman newspaper digitally changed the picture by replacing them with two men. The Shaa Tova newspaper blacked the women out.

Publishing pictures of women is viewed by many ultra-orthodox Jews as a violation of female modesty.

Other Israeli papers reprinted the altered images next to the original photos, with one headlining it "Find the lady".

The ultra-Orthodox community separates itself from mainstream society through its traditional religious practices and distinctive attire of black hats, coats and sidelocks for the men and long skirts and sleeves for the women.

Restrictions include using only Kosher telephones, and not accessing websites with content deemed inappropriate. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7982146.stm>

Mr Goldstone will investigate alleged violations of international law during the recent conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Martin Uhomoibhi, president of the UN Human Rights Council, said the mission would be independent and impartial.

Israel calls the council biased and has previously refused to co-operate.

Mr Goldstone will lead a four-member team, which also includes experts from Pakistan, Britain, and Ireland, in investigating "all violations of international humanitarian law" before, during and after the Israeli campaign in Gaza that ended on 18 January.

"It's in the interest of the victims. It brings acknowledgment of what happened to them. It can assist the healing process," Mr Goldstone said.

"I would hope it's in the interests of all the political actors, too."

The fact-finding mission, which will aim to provide clarity on the legality of the deaths and destruction, is due to start work in the region within weeks, the UN said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7981538.stm>

By Dan Collyns BBC News, Lima

At times riveting but often tedious and procedural, what has been called "the mega-trial" is the longest, most complex and costliest in Peruvian history.

To some it is shameful and wrong that Alberto Fujimori - the man they credit with putting the economy back on track and defeating the brutal Mao-inspired insurgency of the Shining Path - should now be on trial.

But almost three-quarters of the population, according to opinion polls, believe he will be found guilty of charges he was responsible for two death squad killings and two kidnappings - as well as those of corruption, embezzlement and phone-tapping which will be heard in two more trials which will begin in May. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7982975.stm>

The man, who also killed himself, was identified as Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Wong, 41. He used the alias Jiverly Voong, police said.

He reportedly lost his job recently and was frustrated by language problems.

Police said autopsies were under way on those who died but did not suggest a motive for the attack in Binghamton.

Earlier, Pakistani Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud called media organisations including the BBC in Islamabad to claim responsibility for the attack.

But FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said that based on the evidence the militant's claim could be "firmly discounted". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7983463.stm>

Gordon's role in Sulu crisis 'destructive' - Defense chief

Our Middle East correspondent Katya Adler reported on the summit and set out to find out more about Qatar, one of the region's richest nations.

This was my first visit to Qatar and I admit I failed in one of my main missions, to get under the skin of the country.

On Qatar Airways, I met Filipino cabin crew.

The airport ground staff were Pakistani, the hotel receptionist, Sri Lankan, the barista who made my cappuccino on the way to the Arab Summit, Nepali.

My hunt to meet Qataris in Qatar had begun.

Statistically, foreigners in Qatar outnumber Qataris by four to one. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7981478.stm>

Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence or rapid change in the region.

Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s.

Researchers regarded the ice bridge as an important barrier, holding the remnant shelf structure in place.

Its removal will allow ice to move more freely between Charcot and Latady islands, into the open ocean.

European Space Agency satellite pictures had indicated last week that cracks were starting to appear in the bridge. Newly created icebergs were seen to be floating in the sea on the western side of the peninsula, which juts up from the continent towards South America's southern tip. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7984054.stm>

The 16-year-old boy from Oxfordshire had sent her a message suggesting he intended to commit suicide.

Although she did not know where he lived, calls via the White House and the British Embassy enabled Abingdon police to save the boy's life.

The boy, who has not been named, made a full recovery after hospital treatment.

Still conscious

It is believed that he was using the social networking site late on Wednesday night and sent a private message to a girl in Maryland saying that he was going to harm himself.

She told her mother, who called local police.

The police called a "special agent" at the White House, the British Embassy in Washington and finally the police control room in Abingdon.

Staff narrowed down his location to eight possible addresses, and officers found the teenager at the fourth house they tried. He had taken an overdose, but was still conscious. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7983725.stm>

Ministers on a three-day retreat hammered out the plan which is meant to yield a new constitution by next year.

Restrictions on foreign media are due to be lifted and human rights restored.

Correspondents at the talks say there is some scepticism that such ambitious targets can be met in such a short space of time.

After Zimbabwe quit the Commonwealth in 2003, the EU and US imposed travel bans on Mr Mugabe and his circle.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was sworn in as prime minister in February 2009, following months of wrangling over a power-sharing agreement originally signed with Mr Mugabe in September 2008. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7984463.stm>

Two stages of the rocket and its payload landed in the Pacific Ocean, a US military statement said.

Hours earlier North Korea claimed the satellite had successfully been put into orbit and was transmitting data.

The US, EU, Japan and South Korea condemned the launch, thought to be a cover for a long-range missile test.

US President Barack Obama urged Pyongyang to "refrain from further provocative actions".

"North Korea broke the rules once more by testing a rocket that could be used for a long-range missile," Mr Obama told a crowd in the Czech capital, Prague.

"This provocation underscores the need for action - not just this afternoon at the UN Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons."

Later a joint US-EU statement urged Pyongyang to abandon its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and "policy of threats aimed at its neighbours".

The launch "harms peace and stability in northeast Asia", the statement added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7984254.stm>

The US president called for a global summit on nuclear security and the forging of new partnerships to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

He said he hoped to negotiate a new treaty to end the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.

North Korea's "provocative" rocket launch earlier in the day underscored the need for action, he said.

Although his nuclear goals might not be realised in his lifetime, he said he would strive to achieve them.

Mr Obama said that as long as Iran continued to pose a potential nuclear threat, the US would continue to work on a controversial missile defence shield, parts of which would be stationed in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Obama is a seducer, in the nicest possible way of course. He smiles and refers to himself as Hussein and does all the other things that make Europeans swoon BBC's Justin Webb Justin Webb's America blog

He was speaking ahead of a meeting with EU leaders in the Czech capital, Prague, hours after North Korea launched a rocket despite international warnings.

Mr Obama condemned the launch: "Now is the time for a strong international response," he said.

"North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons."

Extermination of cities

Speaking to a 20,000-strong crowd in front of Prague's historic castle, Mr Obama said the US had a moral responsibility to act in ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

As long as the threat from Iran exists, we will go forward with a missile defence system US President Barack Obama Obstacles to non-nuclear 'dream'

"The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War," he said.

"Today the Cold War has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not."

He pledged to reduce the US nuclear stockpile, and urged others to do the same.

But as long as a nuclear threat existed, the US would retain its nuclear capability, although it would work to reduce its arsenal.

He said his administration would work to bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force in order to achieve a global ban on nuclear testing.

The agreement would ban all nuclear explosions for any purpose, but cannot currently come into effect as nuclear powers such as the US and China have not ratified it, and India and Pakistan have not signed it. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7983963.stm>

By Mike Thomson Presenter, Document, BBC Radio 4

Many who fought Nazi Germany during World War II did so to defeat the vicious racism that left millions of Jews dead.

Yet the BBC's Document programme has seen evidence that black colonial soldiers - who made up around two-thirds of Free French forces - were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital.

By the time France fell in June 1940, 17,000 of its black, mainly West African colonial troops, known as the Tirailleurs Senegalais, lay dead.

Many of them were simply shot where they stood soon after surrendering to German troops who often regarded them as sub-human savages.

Their chance for revenge came in August 1944 as Allied troops prepared to retake Paris. But despite their overwhelming numbers, they were not to get it.

'More desirable'

The leader of the Free French forces, Charles de Gaulle, made it clear that he wanted his Frenchmen to lead the liberation of Paris.

I have told Colonel de Chevene that his chances of getting what he wants will be vastly improved if he can produce a white infantry division General Frederick Morgan

Allied High Command agreed, but only on one condition: De Gaulle's division must not contain any black soldiers.

In January 1944 Eisenhower's Chief of Staff, Major General Walter Bedell Smith, was to write in a memo stamped, "confidential": "It is more desirable that the division mentioned above consist of white personnel.

"This would indicate the Second Armoured Division, which with only one fourth native personnel, is the only French division operationally available that could be made one hundred percent white."

At the time America segregated its own troops along racial lines and did not allow black GIs to fight alongside their white comrades until the late stages of the war. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984436.stm>

The plans were drawn up in the wake of the London bombings in 2005.

ISPs and telecoms firms have resisted the proposals while some countries in the EU are contesting the directive.

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, said it was a "crazy directive" with potentially dangerous repercussions for citizens.

All ISPs in the European Union will have to store the records for a year. An EU directive which requires telecoms firms to hold on to telephone records for 12 months is already in force.

The data stored does not include the content of e-mails and websites, nor a recording of a net phone call, but is used to determine connections between individuals.

Authorities can get access to the stored records with a warrant.

Governments across the EU have now started to implement the directive into their own national legislation.

The UK Home Office, responsible for matters of policing and national security, said the measure had "effective safeguards" in place.

ISPs across Europe have complained about the extra costs involved in maintaining the records. The UK government has agreed to reimburse ISPs for the cost of retaining the data.

Mr Killock said the directive was passed only by "stretching the law".

The EU passed it by "saying it was a commercial matter and not a police matter", he explained.

"Because of that they got it through on a simple vote, rather than needing unanimity, which is required for policing matters," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7985339.stm>

By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent BBC News website

Despite his rousing rhetoric in Prague that "we can do it", huge obstacles are in the way and even he gave himself two escape clauses.

The first was that he did not necessarily expect this to happen in his lifetime. He is 47 years old, so, given that the life expectancy in the US is about 78, that means another thirty years or more in which the goal might not be realised.

And nobody knows what might happen in that time.

Sceptics might also argue that President Obama is trying to head off criticism of the US in advance of the five-yearly review conference of the NPT which comes next year

The second, and more important get-out, was his statement that so long as these weapons exist, the US will maintain a "safe, secure and effective" arsenal.

So if just one country maintains nuclear weapons, so will the US. Otherwise that country could dominate the world. And if the US does, so will Russia and China. And the French will not want to rely on the Americans so they will keep them and the British will not want the French to be the only ones in Europe with them, so the British will keep them too.

And those are just the ones whose weapons are allowed under the Non Proliferation Treaty. Those countries outside the treaty - India, Israel and Pakistan - will take a lot of persuading that they should give up what they regard as their weapons of last resort.

And North Korea is also going to be hard to get on board. The Security Council has not even deterred it from launching a rocket today.

Sceptics might also argue that President Obama is trying to head off criticism of the US in advance of the five-yearly review conference of the NPT which comes next year.

There have been many calls for the nuclear-weapons states to fulfil their obligations under Article Vi of the treaty. Anti-nuclear activists say this commits these states to eventual nuclear disarmament, though the states themselves say it commits them only to meaningful negotiations in the first instance and to disarmament only under a general, worldwide agreement.

This is the article: "Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984149.stm>

Dusk was falling, the curtains were open and the house was hyggelig - a Danish word that means cosy, welcoming and enticing - with scores of candles flickering around the open-plan sitting room.

Dressed in his favourite "anarchist" colours of red and black, Kurt Westergaard sat down to a nourishing Nordic repast of black bread, plaice and prawns.

Unwinding after a day at the coalface of his profession, the bohemian grandfather with a seadog's beard and Father Christmas trousers appeared to be the epitome of Scandinavian tranquillity.

Except relaxing completely is something that this cartoonist can never afford to do.

Islamic extremists placed a $1m price on his head after he dared to mock Muslim suicide bombers by depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

For three years he was forced underground to avoid would-be assassins.

I think we are in a period in which this democratic value is under pressure, so it has to be defended Kurt Westergaard

But Mr Westergaard has decided that he will hide no more.

"I am 73 years old," he says.

"Most of my life is over. I am too old to be afraid. I have complete faith in PET [the Danish Secret Service]."

Not only has he emerged from hiding but he has also gone on the offensive, contributing to a recently published Danish book. His latest cartoons are not as provocative as the Muhammad bomb but they satirise Islam and politicians who appease the mullahs.

"It is the question of freedom of speech, freedom of expression," he says.

"I think we are in a period in which this democratic value is under pressure, so it has to be defended." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7964494.stm>

As divisions emerged, diplomats said the council would continue talks. It may take days for a deal, analysts say.

Washington and Tokyo are seeking a strong response, but Beijing and Moscow have called for restraint.

Pyongyang says it launched a satellite early on Sunday but its neighbours say it was testing missile technology. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7984635.stm>

En route to Ankara, Mr Obama said he supports the country's efforts to join the European Union.

He said Turkey's accession would send an important signal to the Muslim world and firmly anchor it in Europe.

But French President Nicolas Sarkozy said it was up to the EU itself to decide who joined the bloc.

Before travelling to Turkey, Mr Obama participated in a Nato gathering in France, where he helped to overcome Turkey's objection to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance's next leader.

Turkey is said to have misgivings about Mr Rasmussen over his refusal to apologise for the "cartoons controversy" when a Danish newspaper published illustrations that inflamed passions in much of the Muslim world.

But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Sunday that Mr Obama's support had helped to resolve concerns.

"He put forth a lot of positive energy," Mr Erdogan said. "We responded positively to this. We hope that the promises made are kept." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984762.stm>

It was known carrying that a rogue version of a gene called ApoE4 raised the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Now researchers have linked the same mutation with raised activity in an area of the brain called the hippocampus in people as young as 20.

The study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

These are exciting first steps towards a tantalising prospect: a simple test that will be able to distinguish who will go on to develop Alzheimer's Dr Clare Mackay University of Oxford

The researchers, from Oxford University and Imperial College London, believe over-activity in the hippocampus may effectively wear it out, raising the risk of dementia in later life.

They hope their work could be a first step towards developing a simple method to identify people at increased risk of developing dementia.

They could then potentially be offered early treatment and lifestyle advice.

Carrying one copy of the rogue ApoE4 gene raises the risk of Alzheimer's by up to four times the normal, two copies by up to 10 times.

But not everyone with the rogue gene will develop the condition.

The latest study used scans to compare brain activity in 36 volunteers aged 20 to 35.

In those who carried the rogue gene activity in the hippocampus was consistently raised, even at rest.

Researcher Dr Clare Mackay said: "These are exciting first steps towards a tantalising prospect: a simple test that will be able to distinguish who will go on to develop Alzheimer's." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7986289.stm>

Rescue boats were called out amid fears demonstrators would jump en-masse from Westminster Bridge if they could not speak to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Police say 900 people are still at the rally - which peaked at around 3,000 - but no-one has been arrested.

One man is in hospital after jumping into the river and hauled out.

The UN says 150,000 people are trapped in Sri Lanka's northern war zone and Tamils claim human rights abuses.

Sri Lanka's government has rejected calls for a ceasefire with the Tamil Tiger rebel group, which wants independence.

These are people who have relatives and friends in Sri Lanka; people who have lost brothers and fathers and sisters Suren Surendiran British Tamils Forum In pictures: Tamils' London rally

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said officers were discussing how to handle the illegal protest, which has been going on outside the Palace of Westminster since 1600 BST on Monday.

Participants failed to give notice of the demonstration and have been waving flags showing the emblem of the Tamil Tigers, which is banned in the UK as a terrorist organisation.

Despite this, the BBC's Andy Moore said early on Tuesday that officers had been were allowing people to join the crowd in the hope they would disperse later.

He added: "They are here for the long term, the protesters say. There are families covered with sheets and blankets and children sleeping, despite the noise."

Four RNLI lifeboats, supported by police and fire launches, remain at the scene after the Tamils threatened to leap into the Thames. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7986838.stm>

He will hold talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Mr Obama recently made clear that he regards Pakistan's cooperation as being crucial to the success of his plans.

There has been concern in Washington at the escalating Taleban insurgency on Pakistani territory.

US aims in Afghanistan dominate the new president's foreign policy agenda.

After a major review, Mr Obama last month unveiled a new strategy which suggested both Afghanistan and Pakistan needed to be fully engaged in the confrontation if the militants were to be defeated. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7986908.stm>

Gordon wants 'touch-screen' voting machines for 2010

Mr Holbrooke has been holding key talks with Pakistani leaders focusing on the new US regional strategy to confront the Taleban and al-Qaeda.

Mr Zardari said Pakistan needed "unconditional support" to fight terrorism and extremism.

Pakistan also said there was a "gap" in opinion on the use of US drone attacks.

Mr Holbrooke, the joint US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Islamabad after talks with Afghan leaders in Kabul.

US President Barack Obama recently unveiled his new strategy, which combines Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of a new regional push to defeat the militants affecting both nations.

The strategy is at the forefront of Mr Obama's foreign policy agenda. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7986908.stm>

Radio 4's Today found 10 ex-residents of a children's home run by the Church of England in Gravesend, Kent, have had children with a birth defect.

They were given massive doses of tranquilisers and other drugs while being restrained as teenagers.

The Diocese of Rochester says it will co-operate with any future inquiry.

Childcare experts from the inspectorate Ofsted say hundreds of children may have been drugged in the care system across the UK throughout the 70s and 80s, subjecting them to the same health risks as those learnt about by the BBC.

Mike Lindsay, chief adviser at the children's rights director's office at Ofsted, said: "Using drugs to control the behaviour of children was perfectly acceptable as far as their own professional understanding at that time went."

I remember, one of the girls, the first thing she said to me is that I had better take the tablets and not argue it Teresa Cooper Former resident Living with the legacy of care

The Kendall House home in Gravesend was run by the Church of England in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s but the site is no longer a children's home.

In a statement issued through the Church of England, the diocese said it was unable to discuss individual circumstances for legal reasons.

"However, if the police, social services or appropriate legal body initiates an investigation, the diocese will co-operate fully with them," the statement said.

"It would be inappropriate for the diocese to initiate any internal inquiries since we are not qualified to do this. In any event, it would be essential for any investigation to be conducted both professionally and impartially." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7985912.stm>

By Philippa Fogarty BBC News

Troops came during the night, he says. They beat the monks and took dozens of them away. He doesn't know where they are.

Outside, the camera records pools of blood on the floor, shards of glass and rubble.

The date was 27 September 2007 and the man behind the camera was Aung Htun.

He was one of a network of people working as undercover reporters for an Oslo-based NGO and opposition broadcaster, the Democratic Voice of Burma, when a fuel price hike triggered anti-government protests.

The protests spread from activists to monks and students, and became an uprising - the most significant challenge to Burma's generals in almost two decades.

Most foreign journalists are banned from Burma and the military government censors all media.

But the undercover reporters used small hand-held cameras to record what was happening. Even as troops brutally suppressed the unrest, they took enormous risks to send the pictures out of the country.

Media organisations used them to report on the unfolding crisis and the footage was broadcast around the world, defying government efforts to hide events from international eyes. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7972703.stm>

Should the 70-year-old former leader, who denies the charges, be sent to prison? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7986069.stm>

At the end of a 15-month trial, judges found him guilty of two death-squad killings of 25 people during the conflict with guerrillas in the 1990s.

After being sentenced, Mr Fujimori said he would appeal against the verdict.

Human rights group Amnesty International described the verdict as "a milestone in the fight for justice".

"Justice has been done in Peru. This is an historic day," said the group's spokesman, Javier Zuniga.

"It is not every day when a former head of state is convicted for human rights violations such as torture, kidnapping and enforced disappearances.

"We hope that it is just the first of many trials in both Latin America and throughout the world." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7986951.stm>

Kristina and Ali sit side by side in their history class and together they learn about the Phoenicians and the Romans, the Greeks and the Ottomans.

But when it comes to Lebanon's more recent, turbulent past - their school teaches them nothing.

Modern history is not part of the curriculum in Lebanon, and just like thousands of other children Kristina and Ali, who are both 14, turn to their families for answers their history teacher cannot provide.

"When I want to know something, I ask my dad," Ali says.

Kristina, who comes from a different religious background, says she does the same.

Their history teacher does not like the arrangement, but in a country split along sectarian lines, she prefers to stick to it.

"Sometimes students ask about more recent events," she says, "but it's difficult to explain things to them without getting into sectarian divisions." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7988399.stm>

HPV infection was found to be a much stronger risk factor than tobacco or alcohol use, the Johns Hopkins University study of 300 people found.

The New England Journal of Medicine study said the risk was almost nine times higher for people who reported oral sex with more than six partners.

But experts said a larger study was needed to confirm the findings.

HPV infection is the cause of the majority of cervical cancers, and 80% of sexually active women can expect to have an HPV infection at some point in their lives.

It is important for health care providers to know that people without the traditional risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use can nevertheless be at risk of oropharyngeal cancer Dr Gypsyamber D'Souza, study author

The Johns Hopkins study took blood and saliva from 100 men and women newly diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer which affects the throat, tonsils and back of the tongue.

They also asked questions about sex practices and other risk factors for the disease, such as family history.

Those who had evidence of prior oral HPV infection had a 32-fold increased risk of throat cancer.

HPV16 - one of the most common cancer-causing strains of the virus - was present in the tumours of 72% of cancer patients in the study. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6639461.stm>

Newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson, 47, who was walking home from work, suffered a heart attack outside the Bank of England in central London on 1 April.

His stepson, Paul King, 27, said people needed to give their version of events.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said an IPCC inquiry into the death needed to be completed as soon as possible.

The IPCC, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, will examine the video footage showing Mr Tomlinson being pushed to the ground.

The video, shot at 1929 BST (1829 GMT) at the Royal Exchange Passage, initially shows Mr Tomlinson, who was not protesting, walking away from a group of police officers.

He then receives a two-handed push from an officer, landing heavily before remonstrating with the police.

Mr Tomlinson collapsed and died of a heart attack after walking to nearby Cornhill, where he received first aid from police.

A New York fund manager recorded the footage, believed to be the last showing Mr Tomlinson alive.

He said he came forward with the video because the vendor's family "were not getting any answers".

Mr King said: "If anyone has seen anything, please come forward to the IPCC or to the City of London Police to give their version.

"He 's our dad and at the end of the day we want to know what happened."

Mr Tomlinson's wife Julia said: "It's like a jigsaw - someone out there knows what happened.

"The children need to know what happened to their father." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7989027.stm>

Vladimir Voronin said the Romanian ambassador would no longer be welcome.

Thousands of young protesters thronged Chisinau, fighting police and ransacking parliament, in protest at the results of Sunday's election.

Official results gave the ruling Communist Party about 50% of the vote in the former Soviet republic.

President Voronin, a Communist, said the protests "cannot be described as anything other than a coup d'etat".

Russia's foreign ministry said they were a plot aimed at undermining "the sovereignty of Moldova", and pointed to "plenty of Romanian flags in the hands of organisers of these outrages".

Some of the protesters on Tuesday had called for the unification of Moldova with Romania, its bigger neighbour. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7989360.stm>

The UN Security Council has been debating whether North Korea should be punished for the launch.

The US, Japan and key European powers say the launch was a ballistic test in clear violation of a UN resolution.

China and Russia have been more cautious, saying they are yet to be convinced Pyongyang broke the rules.

Pyongyang says the test of the three-stage Taepodong-2 rocket was a success, putting a satellite into orbit which is now transmitting data and revolutionary songs.

On Tuesday, it released what it said was a video recording of the rocket launch.

The 20-second sequence showed the rocket blasting off and moving across the sky.

The US says the attempt to launch a satellite failed. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7988939.stm>

Some older Catholics had "entrenched attitudes", while most congregations were more "liberal-minded", he added.

Mr Blair, who converted to Catholicism after resigning as UK prime minister in 2007, told the gay magazine Attitude that views had to keep "evolving".

But he added that Pope Benedict XVI also stood for "many fantastic things".

Last December the Pope angered gay and lesbian groups by arguing that blurring distinctions between males and females could lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.

In a letter to bishops in 1986, when he was a cardinal, he wrote: "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7987566.stm>

The policeman was killed by protesters' gunfire in the town of Khuzdar.

Protesters say the three Baloch nationalist leaders were detained by security forces last Friday and had been missing since.

There has been a long-waged insurgency in Balochistan for a greater share of natural resources and more autonomy. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7991385.stm>

By Christian Fraser BBC News, Algiers

They include two nationalists, two moderate Islamists and a woman veteran left-winger.

But take a closer look at the billboards surrounding the ancient Kasbah and one might be forgiven for thinking that only one man is running in Thursday's national election.

It is the face of 72-year-old incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika that adorns every available space.

He is bidding for his third term in office. He promises "continuity".

"I can only see myself as existing within national reconciliation and national unity," he says.

Boycott

In November, the Algerian parliament rubberstamped an amendment that would change the constitution, meaning Mr Bouteflika can now run an unlimited number of times - virtually making him president for life.

The main opposition groups are boycotting the poll in disgust. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7990242.stm>

By Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent

Baitullah Mehsud heads the Pakistani Taleban and is believed to have been behind the murder of the Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto and the Marriott hotel bombing in Islamabad last year.

He has openly claimed responsibility for the attack on a police academy in Lahore that killed 8 cadets last month.

But is anyone likely to be tempted by this latest offer in what America calls its Rewards for Justice programme?

"Overall the Rewards for Justice programme has been very minimal," says Mike Scheuer, a former CIA intelligence officer who spent years trying to track down Osama Bin Laden.

"At least in terms of our Islamist enemies [it has had] almost no impact at all, no successes. The only big success was the 1993 World Trade Center bomber, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef.

"And it was worth getting him, it was a good investment. But he's the only one, in almost 20 years." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7990538.stm>

US crew members have recaptured their ship but the captain is still being held hostage by the attackers.

The pirates' boat is floating near the Maersk Alabama, its owners told the Associated Press. At least six other vessels are said to be heading its way.

The ship was taken about 500km (311 miles) off Somalia's coast.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the government was following the situation very closely and urged the world to act to end the "scourge" of piracy. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7991114.stm>

By Nick Thorpe BBC News, Budapest

Sources told the BBC that Kosovo Serbs, ethnic Albanians and gypsies were among an estimated 2,000 who went missing.

This took place both during and after the war in Kosovo, which ended in June 1999.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the former KLA political director, has rejected the allegations.

Mr Thaci said he was aware that individuals had "abused KLA uniforms" after the war, but said the KLA had distanced itself from such acts.

He added that such abuse was "minimal".

Testimony

The BBC News investigation also studies claims that some of those held in Albania were killed for their organs, and that physical evidence gathered by UN investigators in Albania was destroyed by the International War Crimes Tribunal.

FIND OUT MORE Crossing Continents, BBC Radio 4 Thursday 9 April, 1100 BST Newsnight, BBC 2 Thursday 9 April, 2230 BST

A former prisoner of the KLA, an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo who was held in a KLA prison in Kukes, northern Albania, agreed to speak to us on condition of anonymity. His family are terrified for his life.

"They ill-treated people in the corridor," he says. "They also came into the rooms in groups of five or six to question us. And they used knives, guns, and automatic rifles."

His testimony confirms that people of different ethnic backgrounds were kept there, including Serbs.

He told the BBC: "When a person is mistreated... he cries out 'oh mother' in his own language.

"The nights were very quiet, so you could hear them crying out... while they were being beaten, or afterwards."

Sources in Kukes suggest that up to 18 prisoners held at the camp were killed. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7990761.stm>

His main error, opposition parties say, was to lead the country into war with Russia last year and plunge the country into what they call a crisis.

But he hit back on Friday, vowing to stay in office until his term ends in 2013, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Up to 60,000 people attended Thursday's opposition rally in the capital.

Hundreds remained in the city centre overnight.

They have given him until 1100 GMT on Friday to agree to their demand.

"This is the last chance for the authorities to stand above personal interests and to act responsibly to overcome the most difficult crisis in the country," the organisers said in a joint message.

Opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze said they had "no other choice but to stay here until our demand is met".

Mr Saakashvili appealed for "dialogue and sharing responsibility" on Friday, Reuters news agency reported. He urged "unity across the political spectrum".

The leaders of the opposition parties did not make clear what the consequences would be of him failing to resign, but both sides have insisted that they will not resort to violence, the BBC's Tom Esslemont reports from Tbilisi. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7993167.stm>

When only the central vision is lost, as with the leading cause of blindness, age-related macular degeneration, peripheral vision remains intact.

And patients can be taught to exploit this, the Macular Disease Society says.

It has developed a training scheme and is calling for professionals to adopt the system across the UK.

The macula is a small area of the retina at the back of the eye made up of specialist cells which process central vision as well as the fine detail of what we see.

Our scheme has transformed lives - helping people to relearn basic skills they thought to have lost for good Tom Bremridge Macular Disease Society

People with macular degeneration rarely go totally blind but even those with a relatively mild version of the disease cannot drive and have difficulty reading, recognising faces and watching television.

But studies show people can be taught to use their peripheral vision to fill in the gaps, using "eccentric viewing" and "steady eye techniques".

When someone with central vision loss looks directly at an object it may disappear, go faint, blur or distort. But when they look above, below or to one side of it, they see it more clearly. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7958838.stm>

It urged an immediate investigation into the deaths of the three, who supporters say went missing after being detained by security forces.

An army spokesman has blamed "anti-state" elements for the killings.

Strikes have been called across the province. One policeman died in riots on Thursday and more trouble is feared.

There has been a long-waged insurgency by nationalists in Balochistan for a greater share of natural resources and more autonomy. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7993352.stm>

"CIA no longer operates detention facilities or black sites," Mr Panetta said in a letter to staff. Remaining sites would be decommissioned, he said.

The "black sites" were used to detain terrorism suspects, some of whom were subjected to interrogation methods described by many as torture.

President Obama vowed to shut down the facilities shortly after taking office.

The Bush administration allowed the CIA to operate secret prisons on the territory of allied countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, according to media reports.

During his first week as president, Mr Obama ordered the closure of the black sites, as well as the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, as part of an overhaul of US detainee policy. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7993087.stm>

PM Abhisit Vejjajiva declared an "extreme state of emergency" in Pattaya for several hours while the leaders were airlifted from the area.

The Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) summit was due to have been held on Saturday and Sunday.

Thailand has been in turmoil, with the opposition demanding fresh elections.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says Thais have spent months organising the summit, but security around the venue collapsed in a matter of hours as thousands pushed their way through the police cordon.

It is a humiliation for the government, our correspondent says. He adds that it raises questions over whether the deep divisions that have emerged in Thai society are also damaging morale in the police and the army. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7994465.stm>

By Gary Eason BBC News website education editor, at the NUT conference

The National Union of Teachers' annual conference backed a proposal to ballot "once all other reasonable avenues have been exhausted".

Any action could start in September, as schools prepare for next year's Sats tests for seven-to-11-year-olds.

The government has said a boycott of the tests would be unlawful and has appealed to the union to think again.

Other classroom teachers' unions are not in favour.

But the National Association of Head Teachers is to debate a similar motion at its annual conference next month. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7994882.stm>

By Ian Pannell BBC News, Afghanistan

We saw the rusting green remains of Soviet tanks... a reminder of how a world-class military might had been defeated by a tenacious, low-tech insurgency

My mistake had been, foolishly, to try to drive to the front-gate of the American Embassy where we had been invited to go on a press trip.

But fortress Kabul has become addicted to security - rather like those bodybuilders who cannot stop pumping iron and popping pills until they resemble some hideously bulging comic book villain.

The city keeps building ever more layers of barbed wire, blast walls, checkpoints, guns and angry policemen.

The US and the rest of Nato keep telling us how the security situation in the capital has improved.

But they are unwilling to practice the confidence they preach. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7991937.stm>

A guy who once did work experience at my old local newspaper rang me recently for a bit of career advice.

He had spent most of the last decade working as a sports reporter on various publications, and felt he had got in a bit of a rut.

His plan to kick-start his career did not, however, involve returning to the Grimsby Evening Telegraph and writing about parish council meetings, school plays and the East Coast Pigeon Show.

Instead, he fancied something rather more challenging - freelancing in Afghanistan.

The reason he came to me was because six years ago, I did much the same thing.

Bored of writing about Ken Livingstone and roadworks for the London Evening Standard, I gave up my job and headed out to post-Saddam Iraq, basing myself in Baghdad for the next couple of years.

I had no previous experience of war zones, no travel insurance, and no work lined up in advance.

But by living in a grotty $5-a-night hotel, hiring an ex-Iraqi army tank commander as a translator, and freelancing for everyone from the San Francisco Chronicle through to Laundry Cleaning Today, I gradually earned my spurs as a foreign correspondent, eventually landing my current job on the Sunday Telegraph. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7993895.stm>

Damian McBride, the PM's ex-political press officer, quit after the messages were picked up by a Westminster blog.

In them, Mr McBride made obscene and unfounded claims about the personal lives of party leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne.

The Conservatives urged Gordon Brown to explain how the allegations came to be sent from an official e-mail account.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: "This is an exceptionally serious matter and he needs to explain immediately what happened."

Claims were also made against the Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries, who says she is consulting lawyers.

The e-mails were originally sent to former government spin doctor Derek Draper, who runs the Labour List blog, before they came to the attention of Paul Staines, writer of the Guido Fawkes blog. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7995515.stm>

French yacht captain may have died in friendly fire

Military operation to free yacht from Somali pirate gang may have killed its French captain. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/>

By David Gregory BBC Politics Show, West Midlands

The Northern Ireland Secretary stood down from the Cabinet last month after admitting he had not declared some donations following revelations on the political blogger's sit

Many journalists, like Adrian, have moved into blogging

Politics Show reporter David Gregory has been looking at the state of the political blog, how politicians are using them and what it means for voters.

I have always said as a journalist that anyone can do it, I just never expected so many people to apply themselves and prove me right.

But thanks to them, staying across the "blogosphere" is now an essential part of my daily routine.

And after Peter Hain was dispatched by Guido it seemed like the right time to ask - just where is this explosion in comment and journalism taking us?

Plenty of journalists have moved from the mainstream media into blogging.

'Degree of vandalism'

Adrian Goldberg was a BBC journalist and presenter and now runs the Birmingham and Black Country website and blog, thestirrer.co.uk.

We may have been talking in Adrian's house, but the phone calls and emails he was getting while we were there were more what you would expect in a newsroom not a living room.

"I thought it would just take up an hour, or an hour-and-a-half," he told me.

"But the truth is, it takes up all of my time now. But that's because there is a demand for it out there."

It is not just journalists who are blogging. Politicians too have realised it is a useful tool.

Politicians have realised blogging is a useful tool

John Hemming, Lib Dem MP for Yardley in Birmingham, says he uses his blog "mainly for campaigning issues, for putting out information, for arguing issues and often we have big rows in the comments".

Ah yes, the comments section. Everyone I spoke to said the discussions found there can certainly get heated.

Paul Uppal, blogging prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Wolverhampton South West, admitted he suffered "a degree of vandalism" in his comments section.

But, he has a theory that it is "politicos" that end up arguing while, for want of a better description, "normal people" read and take stuff in but do not tend to post.

Anonymity is built in to blogging and I did wonder whether that degrades the level of debate.

But all the bloggers I spoke to said that it could also be a good thing, protecting sources for example.

It may sometimes be bad tempered and aggressive, but blogging is clearly shaping our political conversation and if you do not like what you read on them it is easy to start your own. The demand is there.

As Adrian Goldberg says: "Even when I presented a three hour radio show, once it was over the conversation had to stop but on a blog it can carry on as long as the people want it to." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/7235272.stm>

Arisman is said to be co-operating with the authorities

Thai police have arrested the leader of the protests which forced the cancellation of a major Asian summit.

Arisman Pongruengrong was detained as Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva vowed to prosecute the protesters whose campaign he said had tipped into illegality.

Later, the government declared a state of emergency across Bangkok and the surrounding areas, state TV reported.

On Saturday demonstrators calling for his resignation stormed the summit venue in the seaside resort of Pattaya.

Mr Arisman, who spearheaded the protests by supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was arrested after returning to his home in Bangkok on Sunday.

He was charged with inciting protesters to kidnap the prime minister and cause unrest, police said.

A police spokesman said he was co-operating with the authorities.

"There will be further arrests, but right now the police are gathering evidence," the spokesman added.

We will continue to protest in Bangkok until Abhisit resigns Jakrapob Penkair Opposition leader Fiasco deepens Thai stalemate

Correspondents say the storming of the Pattaya conference centre was deeply embarrassing for Mr Abhisit.

There was little resistance from the security forces.

The tactics of the pro-Thaksin activists mirror those of their royalist rivals last year: they too paralysed government activity by targeting key venues.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says there is no question the pro-Thaksin protesters broke the law.

But, our correspondent adds, the problem is that Mr Abhisit rode to power on the back of protests that were just as illegal, and the PM may look hypocritical if he only goes after the red-shirted protesters who embarrassed him. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7995556.stm>

By Jonathan Head BBC News, Bangkok

After years in the political wilderness, Abhisit Vejjajiva had stitched together a winning coalition, wresting control of parliament from allies of Thaksin Shinawatra for the first time in eight years.

To prove he was up to the job - he had had little ministerial experience - he set out a number of challenges he promised to meet, among them holding the biannual Asean summit meetings, which it is Thailand's turn to host, but which had been delayed by political turmoil last year.

He must be regretting that pledge now.

It made the summits, normally unexciting gatherings, but which bring together the region's most important powers, an obvious target for the aggrieved supporters of Mr Thaksin.

Disrupting an Asean summit would bring them far greater international media coverage, and undermine Mr Abhisit's claim to have restored stability.

No surprise, then, that the red-shirted protesters from the UDD (United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship), the movement that has spearheaded the campaign against this government, chose to shift their rallies from Bangkok to this month's summit venue in the seaside resort of Pattaya.

Sticks and slingshots

As this was no surprise, the government had plenty of time to prepare - 8,000 police and soldiers were deployed to block all the routes leading to the Royal Cliff Hotel, where the summit was taking place.

It seemed unlikely protesters would be able to break through unless they came in massive numbers - and the crowds that eventually descended on Pattaya were never more than several thousand.

Most Asean summits are tightly choreographed affairs and demonstrations - which are rare - never get anywhere near the venue.

Yet the UDD, armed with no more than sticks and the odd slingshot, managed to push their way through police and army lines repeatedly.

At times the atmosphere seemed almost jovial, with one group of navy officers laughing and taking pictures of the red-shirts as they swarmed through.

Even right outside the gates of the hotel itself, soldiers refused to use force, and the protesters were able to barge their way in, which led to the humiliating evacuation of several Asian leaders by helicopter.

How was this possible? The prime minister had staked his reputation on pulling off this summit. He was hosting Premier Wen Jiabao of China, and Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan, the powers everyone in this region looks up to. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7995065.stm>

Severe hypoglycaemic episodes - hypos - occur when blood sugar levels drop dangerously low.

A University of Edinburgh team found they may lead to poorer memory and diminished brain power.

The study, based on 1,066 people with type 2 diabetes aged between 60 and 75, was presented at a conference of the charity Diabetes UK.

HYPOGLYCAEMIA Hypoglycaemia is caused by a lack of sugar (glucose) reaching the brain, which uses it as fuel Symptoms can include sweating, fatigue, hunger, feeling dizzy, feeling weak, a higher heart rate than usual and blurred vision More severe episodes can led to temporary loss of consciousness, convulsions and coma

The volunteers completed seven tests assessing mental abilities such as memory, logic and concentration.

The 113 people who had previously experienced severe hypos scored lower than the rest of the group.

They performed poorly in tests of their general mental ability, and vocabulary.

There are at least 670,000 people in England aged between 60 and 75 years old who have Type 2 diabetes and around a third of them could be at risk of a hypo. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7937947.stm>

The text, agreed by the Security Council's five permanent members and Japan, said that the launch had contravened a UN resolution.

The statement is considered a weaker response than the resolution initially sought by Japan and the US.

China and Russia had rejected that idea, calling on the international community to act with restraint.

They fear that a strong response could harm prospects for resuming stalled six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

The full 15-member Security Council held a closed-door meeting later on Saturday to discuss the draft. Diplomats suggested they could vote on it as early as Monday.

North Korea says the purpose of its rocket launch was to put a satellite into orbit as part of its peaceful development of space.

But its neighbours say it was testing long-range missile technology - in violation of a UN resolution. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7995269.stm>

The head of the Interior Ministry told journalists Islamabad is prepared to help in the investigation but has not yet received any details from the UK.

On Thursday, Gordon Brown said Pakistan had to do more to root out terrorism.

Meanwhile, officers have been granted a further week to question the men as searches continue at 10 premises.

Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said Pakistan has contacted Interpol and written to the Foreign Office requesting details about those arrested, including any evidence that links them to the alleged terror plot.

'Full support'

He said so far London had supplied no information to Pakistan. It could not even verify that the suspects are Pakistani.

If confirmed, Islamabad would extend full support to the investigation and follow up any leads that are arose, he added.

According to BBC correspondent Barbara Plett, both Britain and Pakistan say they have good counter-terrorism cooperation.

Newspapers in Islamabad reported David Miliband called his Pakistani counterpart on Friday and assured him that information coming out of the ongoing probe would be shared soon.

But Mr Malik denied UK newspaper reports that Pakistan had made arrests in connection with the British case.

He said at this stage he could not comment on whether the alleged plot was linked to al-Qaeda.

He also said that if there is solid evidence against the suspects, they should be tried in the UK. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7995410.stm>

At least six paramilitary troops have been killed in India's eastern Orissa state after dozens of Maoist rebels attacked a bauxite mine, police say.

Four rebels also died in the nine-hour battle in the Panchpatmali area. Police said they had rescued 150 people trapped by the fighting.

The rebels wanted to steal explosives from the mine but fled without them, police said.

The rebels are fighting for communist rule in a number of Indian states.

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7996340.stm>

Saudi newspaper al-Watan said the banned words included "sex" and "ass", but the list was topped by "USA".

Al-Watan said 90,000 existing plates were to be replaced.

Personalised plates are popular with wealthy young Saudis. One plate recently sold at auction for 6m riyals ($1.2m), the newspaper reported.

Newer Saudi plates include three Arabic letters that are also shown in the Latin alphabet.

The growing fashion is for car owners to buy personalised "vanity" plates that deliberately read "nut", "but", "bad", or "bar" in English.

The latter presumably has been deemed offensive as it relates to alcohol, which is banned in the Islamic kingdom, the AFP news agency reports.

The first on the list, for unexplained reasons, is the combination "USA". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7995865.stm>

By Mpho Lakaje BBC News, Johannesburg

But some say this might be his downfall in the ruthless world of politics.

"Dandala is weak," says one political observer after listening to Bishop Dandala being interviewed.

"I don't see how he will match the vigour of a man like [governing ANC president] Jacob Zuma."

The new kid on the political block was born Mvumelwano Hamilton Dandala in 1951, but he looks half his age.

When he walks alongside his son Hlomla Dandala, also a prominent member of Cope, the two look like brothers.

"In full my surname is Umdandalaza which means - a strong man," he says, eyes sparkling behind his glasses.

The former Methodist bishop describes himself as a perfectionist who takes failure very hard. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7915586.stm>

The men were named during the interrogation of 49 Hezbollah suspects that Egypt said it was holding last week, unnamed security officials said.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has confirmed one of the 49 is a member of the Lebanese movement but denied claims it was planning attacks in Egypt.

Last week, Israel warned of likely attacks on Israelis visiting the area.

On Monday, an Israeli tourist was stabbed by a Libyan worker in the Sinai resort of Nuweiba.

But reports suggested the incident was an attempted burglary or a financial dispute, rather than a politically motivated attack.

The Sinai's beach resorts have long been popular with Israelis, although warnings of attacks have reduced visitor numbers in recent years. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7996665.stm>

The poll of 2,000 adults for the Mental Health Foundation found 77% found the world more frightening than in 1999.

The charity described a "culture of fear" in which the media and politicians fuelled a sense of unease.

But one sociologist said the campaign risked becoming a "self-fulfilling prophecy" making people more anxious.

The report, In the Face of Fear, found more than a third of people say they get frightened or anxious more often than they used to, while 77% thought the world had become a scarier place.

While the economic climate was seen as part of the reason for the increased levels of fear, the charity said it believed there were other factors at play.

The report said "worst-case-scenario language" sometimes used by politicians, pressure groups, businesses and public bodies around issues such as knife-crime, MRSA, bird-flu and terrorism can have a detrimental effect on people's wellbeing. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7988310.stm>

By Phil Mercer BBC News, Sydney

Dharug was one of the dominant Aboriginal dialects in the Sydney region when British settlers arrived in 1788, but became extinct under the weight of colonisation.

Details of its demise are sketchy but linguists believe the last of the traditional Dharug speakers died in the late 19th Century, and their unique tongue only survives because of written records.

In a remarkable comeback, Dharug now breathes again - its revitalisation helped by the efforts of staff at Chifley College's Dunheved campus in Sydney.

"We've already reclaimed it. That's why there is so much interest. People are already speaking it," said teacher Richard Green, who, like others, has fought passionately to rejuvenate the ways of his ancestors that were lost after European settlement.

"They weren't allowed to speak it. They had to learn English or they were punished," he added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7992565.stm>