Policing the World-14

Two Northern Ireland loyalist paramilitary groups have said they have completed decommissioning.

The UVF and Red Hand Commando said their weapons and explosives were "totally and irreversibly beyond use".

Another loyalist group, the Ulster Defence Association, confirmed it had started to decommission its arsenal.

NI Secretary Shaun Woodward said it was "an historic day for Northern Ireland". Between them, the UDA and UVF killed almost 1,000 people in the Troubles.

Four years ago, the IRA put its weapons beyond use in decommissioning witnessed by two churchmen.

On Saturday, the UVF and the UDA said they had both engaged in "historic acts" of decommissioning.

The leadership of the UVF/RHC said its disarmament process was overseen by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) and in front of international witnesses.

It said the process had begun last Autumn but had been "suspended" following the dissident republican killings of a policeman and two soldiers in March.

The process resumed after government assurances were given "that those responsible would be vigorously pursued".<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8121842.stm>

Egypt has opened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip for three days, allowing some Palestinians to leave the blockaded territory.

About 400 people were able to cross into Egypt, with priority given to students, patients and officials.

On the Egyptian side, 700 people and 10 trucks with medical aid from Arab countries waited to enter.

Gaza has been blockaded by Israel, and much of the time by Egypt, for two years since Hamas took control there.

But a spokesman for Unrwa - the UN agency for Palestinian refugees - said the opening would not help the reconstruction of Gaza.

"It's going to make a very small difference, if any," Chris Gunness told the BBC's Newshour programme. "Rafah is designed not for industrial levels of building materials and other humanitarian supplies that need to go into Gaza."

Among those who have been given permission to pass through are officials attending the latest round of Palestinian unity talks in Cairo, students, and Palestinians needing urgent medical treatment. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8122078.stm>

Russia and Nato have agreed to resume co-operation on security issues, after nearly a year of difficult relations.

The deal came at a meeting in Greece of foreign ministers from the two sides.

Ties deteriorated sharply in 2008 after Russia's brief conflict with Georgia. Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said differences over the issue remained.

But he said Nato and Russia would nonetheless resume co-operation on issues such as Afghanistan, drug trafficking and piracy.

"We have restarted our relations at a political level, we also agreed to restart the military-to-military contacts which had been frozen since last August," the Nato secretary-general told a news conference in Corfu.

Fundamental differences still remained on Georgia, he said, but the two sides agreed "not to let disagreements bring the whole train to a halt".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the agreement "to a certain extent a positive development". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8122743.stm>

Pastor Ken Pagano told parishioners to bring their unloaded guns to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a service celebrating the right to bear arms.

He said he acted after church members voiced fears the Obama administration could tighten gun control laws.

When the service began, some 200 people were present, AP news agency said.

"We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens who also own guns," Mr Pagano told the congregation.

"If it were not for a deep-seated belief in the right to bear arms, this country would not be here today," he said.

The pastor also held a handgun raffle, as well as providing information on gun safety.

"I wish more churches did this, I wish more people did this," the Louisville Courier-Journal quoted one attendee, Doreen Rogers, as saying.

"For some reason, most people think that carrying guns is sinful. It's not. I think my life is worth protecting."

About 10 members of a private local militia also attended, the Courier-Journal said.

A coalition of religious groups and campaigners held a rival gun-free event at the same time on the other side of Louisville.

"The idea of wearing guns to churches or any sacred space I think many people find deeply troubling," organiser Terry Taylor told AP.

In the US, the right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. There are thought to be more than 200 million firearms in private hands.

But some gun owners fear that the new administration in the White House could try to challenge or amend some gun ownership laws.

Critics of the laws, meanwhile, link high levels of gun crime with high levels of gun ownership <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8122767.stm>

With US troops about to withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities, there has been an upsurge in bomb attacks - but is this a sign of worse to come, asks Jim Muir, or a last throw of the dice from the militants?

In the baking heat of an Iraqi mid-summer's day, there was a bustle of activity at what is left of Joint Security Station (JSS) Comanche.

It is one of the military bases set up by the Americans, along with Iraqi army forces in the spring of last year, to bring Baghdad and other areas under government control.

JSS Comanche is right on the edge of Sadr City, the huge Shia suburb which we could see stretching away into the heat haze.

Until last year, it was a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia, the followers of the militant young Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, but after a lot of fighting, it was tamed, and the militia melted away.

Now, under the withdrawal agreement, the Americans were busy packing up and moving on. Huge cranes were busy hoisting sections of concrete blast-walls onto flat-bed lorries to be trucked away in swirling clouds of dust. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8120959.stm>

By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Trieste

The United States is to change the way it deals with the massive poppy growing industry in Afghanistan.

Instead of destroying the crops it will spend money encouraging Afghan farmers to grow different ones.

US special envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, at a G8 meeting in Italy, said current measures against poppy growers had been "a failure".

The conference of foreign ministers in Trieste also called for credible elections in Afghanistan in August.

Mr Holbrooke said that existing programmes of eradication had not reduced by one dollar the amount of money the Taliban earned from production.

"Spraying the crops just penalises the farmer and they grow crops somewhere else. The hundreds of millions of dollars we spend on crop eradication has not had any damage on the Taliban."

"On the contrary, it has helped them recruit. This is the least effective programme ever," Mr Holbrooke added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8122622.stm>

About 70 Argentine army officers can be charged with torture of their own soldiers during the 1982 Falklands War, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Over 80 cases are under investigation, including allegations of murder and causing death by starvation.

The court upheld an earlier ruling that the alleged torture could be considered crimes against humanity and rejected a petition to abandon proceedings.

An Argentine veterans' group welcomed the ruling.

"We have been fighting for 27 years for this to become known, we are really satisfied," said Ernesto Alonso, president of the Centre for Falkland Islands Veterans.

"Next week, more soldiers will report about abuses they have suffered."

Cases that are being investigated include the alleged execution of one soldier and the fatal abandonment of another.

Veterans who brought the legal action - all conscripted into service - also say four soldiers starved to death, while several others were staked to the ground as punishment.

Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war over the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, under British control since 1833. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8122794.stm>

Playing the politics of whaling

At the International Whaling Commission meeting in Madeira

As Bill Clinton might say: "it's the politics, stupid".

Or perhaps Tony Blair would adopt the form of his statement of priorities for the 1997 UK general election to read "politics, politics, politics".

The conference hall here at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting rings with statements about what's right and wrong, what ought to be done, how others are failing to abide by their moral obligations, and different visions of the world based on traditions and ethical stances. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/>

By Paul Moss Radio 4's The World Tonight

They may have disagreed about politics, but the group of 20-something friends who had gathered for an after-work drink were all certain about one thing - they were Serbs.

"My father is a Serb, my grandfather is a Serb, I am a Serb. This is my nationality," said Vladislav.

"If we are looking at a football game," added Bane, "Serbia against somebody else, we are fans of Serbia."

These would not have been particularly notable declarations of identity, save for one crucial fact.

We were speaking in Banja Luka, a city in Bosnia, and all these people were Bosnian citizens.

But that meant little to Ivana, a trainee architect: "Bosnia is an artificial and silly creation, we naturally belong with Serbs," she said.

That "creation" was born out of the ruins of battle.

Everybody should be worried, this is the Balkans, and nationalist rhetoric here always leads to war Svetlana Cenic, writer

At the end of the Bosnian Civil War, it was agreed that the country would remain a single nation.

However, the Serbs were granted their own officially-recognised region, known as the Republika Srpska.

It has its own parliament, and a fair degree of autonomy.

But now some fear this delicate constitutional compromise could be falling apart. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8121166.stm>

By Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Solferino, Italy

The Red Cross is marking the 150th anniversary of the battle which inspired Henri Dunant to found the world's best known humanitarian movement.

At the end of June 1859, the armies of France and Sardinia, led by Napoleon III, confronted the Austrians at Solferino in northern Italy.

Henri Dunant, a Geneva businessman, happened to be passing, and witnessed the battle.

Horrified by what he saw, he documented the slaughter in his book, A Memory of Solferino.

"Here is a hand-to-hand struggle in all its horror and frightfulness," he wrote.

"Austrians and Allies trampling each other under foot, killing one another on piles of bleeding corpses, felling their enemies with their rifle butts, crushing skulls, ripping bellies open with sabre and bayonet. No quarter is given; it is a sheer butchery."

Henri Dunant was certainly a visionary. He was the man for the moment Francois Bugnion, ICRC

At the end of the battle, the Austrians were defeated and 40,000 men lay dead or dying.

As Dunant discovered, and later recounted, little was done to care for the wounded.

"Men of all nations lay side by side on the flagstone floors of the churches of Castiglione: Frenchmen and Arabs, Germans and Slavs.

"Oh, Sir, l'm in such pain!" several of these poor fellows said to me, "they desert us, leave us to die miserably, and yet we fought so hard!"

Unlikely hero

What he saw at Solferino shocked Dunant, and inspired him to develop an organisation dedicated to helping war wounded.

But the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had modest beginnings; Dunant and four friends met in an apartment in Geneva's old town to discuss possible rules for war, aimed at alleviating suffering. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8121805.stm>

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has been arrested by troops ahead of a controversial referendum on plans to change the constitution.

Mr Zelaya's secretary said the president had been taken to an airbase outside the capital, Tegucigalpa.

The move comes days after the president sacked the armed forces chief, who had refused to back the referendum plan.

Mr Zelaya, elected for a non-renewable four-year term in January 2006, wants a vote to enable him to seek a new term.

A reporter for the Associated Press news agency said he had seen dozens of soldiers surround the president's house on Sunday morning and about 60 police guarding the house. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8123126.stm>

By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

It is just over a month since Asia's longest civil war in modern times came to an end, with the Sri Lankan government's declaration that it had finally defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE) on the battlefield and killed nearly all their leaders.

Yet the army chief says he wants the army, already 200,000, to increase in size by 50%. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8121385.stm>

A new president has been sworn into office in Honduras, hours after the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya.

Congress speaker Roberto Micheletti will serve as interim president until polls are held, Congress said.

The removal of Mr Zelaya by the army came amid a power struggle over his plans for constitutional change.

Mr Zelaya, who had been in power since 2006, wanted to hold a referendum that could have led to an extension of his non-renewable four-year term.

Polls for the referendum had been due to open early on Sunday - but troops instead took him from the presidential palace and flew him to Costa Rica.

The ousting of Manuel Zelaya has been criticised by regional neighbours, the US and the United Nations.

In the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, groups of Zelaya supporters were said to have set up barricades, while troops were at key sites.

Mr Micheletti told a press conference that a nationwide curfew was being imposed for Sunday and Monday, running from 2100 (0300 GMT) to 0600 (1200 GMT) on each night. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8123513.stm>

By Tim Franks BBC News, Jerusalem

The International Committee of the Red Cross has described the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza as people "trapped in despair".

In a report, it said that a main cause was the continuing Israeli blockade.

The report comes six months after the end of Israel's military offensive in Gaza in which at least 1,100 Palestinians died.

Israel said the offensive was aimed at curbing rocket attacks into southern Israel by Palestinian militants.

The Red Cross says that the people of Gaza are unable to rebuild their lives and sliding ever deeper into despair.

There is not the cement or steel to reconstruct neighbourhoods hit by Israeli strikes.

RED CROSS REPORT Residents lack adequate shelter after homes destroyed Building materials, pipes and spare parts urgently needed Basic medicines, reliable hospital equipment are in short supply Collapse of Gaza's economy has caused poverty to soar

Seriously ill patients are not receiving the treatment they need. The water supply is patchy, sanitation on the point of collapse.

Poverty is at what the Red Cross calls an "alarming" level. Large numbers of children are malnourished.

All this, says the Red Cross, is directly linked to Israel's tight closure of the crossing points into Gaza after the Islamist Hamas movement took power there two years ago.

The Israeli prime minister's spokesman told the BBC that Hamas is primarily responsible for the hardship of Gaza's civilian population.

And he said the idea that, should building materials be allowed in, Hamas would not siphon them off for what he called its military machine was simply not credible. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8123487.stm>

Swiss police say they have uncovered an internet child pornography network spanning 78 countries and involving at least 2,000 IP internet addresses.

An inquiry was launched after a tip-off from Interpol about a website based in Switzerland being used as a forum for illegal child pornography films.

The site was officially devoted to hip hop music but was used to access videos of child pornography via secret codes.

The site designer was unaware of how it was being used, Swiss media report.

It is the biggest concern of its kind dismantled in Switzerland Jean-Christophe Sauterel Police spokesman in Vaud

Swiss federal police spokeswoman Eva Zwahlen said the authorities had been monitoring the website in the south-western canton of Vaud, the Associated Press reports.

She confirmed a Swiss newspaper report that the investigation involved people from the US, Poland, Greece and other countries.

Jean-Christophe Sauterel, a police spokesman in Vaud, told Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche that it was "the biggest concern of its kind dismantled in Switzerland".

According to the newspaper, dozens of arrests and several convictions have been made as a result of the investigation, which began in May 2008.

Speaking about suspected users of the illegal material in Switzerland, Mr Sauterel said none of them were based in Vaud itself.

The website's owner told the newspaper of their shock at being told by police about how it had been used illegally.

The site's designer was not aware what it was being used for and was cleared of any involvement in the ring, police were quoted as saying by AFP news agency. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/8123450.stm>

Ukraine is opening up part of its old KGB archive, declassifying hundreds of thousands of documents spanning the entire Soviet period.

But the move to expose Soviet-era abuses is dividing Ukrainians, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse reports from Kiev.

Deep in the bowels of Ukraine's former KGB headquarters there is a deathly silence. Thousands of boxes, piled floor to ceiling, line the walls. Each box is carefully numbered and each one contains hundreds of documents: case notes on enemies of the former Soviet state.

Behind each number, there is a story of personal tragedy.

Volodymyr Viatrovych, the chief archivist, pulled out a brown cardboard folder stuffed full of documents: case number 4076. At the centre of the case is a letter, dated 1940 and addressed to "Comrade Stalin, the Kremlin, Moscow".

"Dear Iosif Vissarionovich," the letter starts. Nikolai Reva wanted Stalin to know the facts about the great famine of 1932-33, when millions died as a result of the Soviet policy of forced collectivisation.

Like many at the time, Mr Reva believed that Stalin was being kept in the dark, and that if only he knew what was happening, he would surely put a stop to it.

But his letter landed him in the Gulag. He was eventually rehabilitated - 25 years later.

Many met a harsher fate.

Leafing through one of many macabre photo albums, Mr Viatrovych pointed to a picture of Ivan Severin, shot in the head by the Soviet security services. Under the picture, in very neat handwriting, is written: "Liquidated, 3 April 1947". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8119320.stm>

New US commander General Stanley McChrystal is travelling Afghanistan preparing a new strategy. The BBC's Martin Patience went with him to the west of the country.

In a traditional reception room the size of a tennis court, Gen McChrystal listened intently to an Afghan governor.

The official told the commander that he had only taken his job after being led to believe by the Afghan government that the security situation was good - but it turned out it was not.

Gen McChrystal then joked that US President Barack Obama had "done exactly same thing to me" - provoking laughs from the assembled audience.

It was a rare moment of humour from the commander known for his seriousness.

McChrystal is the man of the moment - a general tasked with changing the course of the war in Afghanistan.

He replaced Gen David McKiernan who was unceremoniously sacked in May.

Time may not be running out, but after eight years of US troops fighting here, it is certainly dragging on.

And Gen McChrystal's job is to sort what the American envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, has described as a "mess". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8123165.stm>

Matt Walker Editor, Earth News

Lions form prides to defend territory against other lions, not to improve their hunting success, a study reveals.

In doing so, they act much like street gangs, gathering together to protect their turf from interlopers, says a leading lion expert.

The bigger the gang, the more successful the lions are, information that could help conserve wild lions.

The discovery helps explain why lions, uniquely among the cat species, live together in social groups.

Lions stand out amongst all the cat species for their gregarious nature.

Across Africa and Asia, lions form prides of varying sizes comprising one or more males and often numerous females and cubs.

The bigger the gang, the more successful it is at controlling the best areas. Lion expert Craig Packer

But why they do so has remained a mystery. A long-standing idea is that female lions socialise in order to hunt cooperatively. But despite the common sight of multiple females working together to outflank and bring down large prey, there is no clear link between how many lions hunt together and their hunting success.

Another is that lions gather to protect territory. Indeed, a range of animals from social insects to primates form social groups that defend territories against competitors.

But while there has been anecdotal evidence that bigger groups have a competitive advantage, the idea has never been rigorously tested over long periods of time.

That has now changed with a study analysing the behaviour of 46 lion prides living in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

'Street gangs'

Conducted by ecologists Anna Mosser and Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota in St Paul, US, the study collated data about the prides' behaviour over 38 years, including where they ranged, their composition and how they interacted.

Mosser's and Packer's key finding was that competition between lion prides significantly affects the mortality and reproductive success of female lions, they report in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Larger prides with more adult females not only produced more cubs, as might be expected, but the females within these prides were less likely to be wounded or killed by other lions.

Prides with more females were also more likely to gain control of areas disputed with neighbouring prides, and those prides that recruited lone females improved the quality of their territory.

"The most important way to think about this is that lion prides are like street gangs," says Packer.

"They compete for turf. The bigger the gang, the more successful it is at controlling the best areas. The main difference from humans is that these are gangs of female lions." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8120000/8120712.stm>

The Harlequin ladybird is putting over 1,000 species in the UK in peril, scientists have warned.

"The rate of spread is dramatic and unprecedented," said Dr Helen Roy of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

The ladybird has spread to most parts of the UK in just four years, preying on many other insects.

However, research outlined at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition suggests local ladybird parasites are adapting to prey on the interloper.

To help that process along, scientists are suggesting introducing a mite that renders the ladybirds infertile.

Originally from Asia, the harlequin preys on a wide variety of insects, including the larvae of other ladybirds, and will also eat fruit.

It was introduced in continental Europe to control pest insects.

First "spotted" in Essex in 2004, the invader was quickly classified as a major threat to the UK's 45 native ladybird species.

Since 2005, its spread has been tracked by a survey inviting members of the public to report sightings. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8124099.stm>

By Stephen Gibbs BBC News, Tegucigalpa

Last Saturday night, when President Manuel Zelaya went to bed in his official residence, he must have felt at least an inkling of the loneliness of power.

In the few days previously, the Supreme Court had twice accused him of acting illegally. His attorney general had said he should stand down. He had sacked his chief of defence staff. The heads of the army navy and air force had all resigned.

Despite all that, he apparently slept well.

But not for long.

He was rudely awoken before dawn as masked soldiers entered the private quarters of the man that still, at that stage, was officially their commander-in-chief.

Now the soldiers were giving the orders. The president was marched out of his house and taken to a nearby military airport. Still in his pyjamas, he was forced to board a plane.

By the time it took off, he still had no idea where he was being taken, or what his fate might be.

The destination was Costa Rica, and enforced asylum.

'No hero's welcome'

It might have seemed like his darkest hour. But President Zelaya has instead found himself an unlikely hero with some powerful champions.

He [Mr Zelaya] is the democratically elected president of Honduras. He was kidnapped by criminals Paulina, teacher in Tegucigalpa

"President Zelaya was democratically elected. He has not completed his term," stated US President Barack Obama.

"This is a coup against us all," said Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez, who has vowed to do what he can to restore the sometime cattle rancher to power.

Mr Zelaya now says he will be returning to his home country on Thursday.

If he is expecting a hero's welcome, he might be disappointed.

The new Honduran government, which remains unrecognised by any country in the world, has said the exiled president is now a regular citizen and should expect to be arrested and imprisoned if he returns. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8125726.stm>

A wing of the Taliban based in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan say they have scrapped a peace deal with the government.

The group led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan withdrew from the deal as the army stepped up its offensive against the Taliban in the north-west.

The announcement comes a day after his men ambushed a Pakistani military convoy, killing 16 soldiers.

The militants signed the peace deal with the army in 2007.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur's group had initially pledged to stay on the sidelines during the continuing operation against the country's top Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud.

Neighbouring South Waziristan is where the Taliban commander is said to be based. The army wants to eliminate his network of militants based in the mountainous territory there.

'Eliminated'

The group said they were abandoning the peace deal because of continued US missile strikes and Pakistan's widening anti-Taliban offensive in the north-west.

Announcing their decision, spokesman Ahmedullah Ahmedi, also said they would now carry out attacks on military targets in the region until the army left and US drones strikes were halted.

PEACE DEALS SINCE 2006 Feb 2006 - May 2007: Deal with Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud for Sararogha, South Waziristan Feb 2008 - March 2008: With Baitullah Mehsud over parts of South Waziristan Sept 2006 - June 2009: With Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Sadiq Noor for Miranshah, North Waziristan Mar 2007 - June 2009: With militant Maulvi Nazir Ahmed for Wana, South Waziristan May 2008 - June 2008: With radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah for Swat valley Feb 2009 - April 2009: With Maulana Fazlullah for Swat

Most of the drone strikes have been targeted at Hafiz Gul Bahadur and another tribal leader, Maulvi Nazir.

Both leaders signed the peace deals with the army in 2007.

But Maulvi Nazir also abandoned his deal when he declared war on the Pakistan army two days ago.

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the scrapping of the deal leaves the army facing a near impossible task - no one has ever defeated a combined insurgency in the Waziristan area.

Pakistan's army began its military offensive in the Swat valley two months ago after the earlier peace deal the Taliban there broke down.

Separately, Pakistan's prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that the second and third tier leadership of the Pakistani Taliban have been "eliminated" in the government's offensive against the militant network.

He added that the top leaders would soon meet the same fate.

The full-scale operation against the Pakistan Taliban leadership in their main stronghold in the Afghan border region of South Waziristan has yet to begin, says our world affairs correspondent, Mike Wooldridge.

One issue cited by the army as they prepare the ground is that they want to avoid provoking a wider tribal uprising. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8125725.stm>

Japan is considering the introduction of noise-making devices for near-silent hybrid cars following safety fears from vision-impaired pedestrians.

"Vision-impaired people feel that hybrid vehicles are dangerous", a transport ministry official told AFP.

The top-selling hybrid vehicles run almost without any sound when they change from fuel to battery mode.

The ministry of transport has brought together a panel that will draw up a report by the end of the year.

The panel is considering forcing manufacturers of hybrid cars to introduce a sound-making function that alerts passersby to the presence of a vehicle.

"Blind people depend on sounds when they walk, but there are no engine sounds from hybrid vehicles when running at low speed," the transport ministry official said.

The world's most popular hybrid, the Prius, was launched by Toyota in 1997.

Paul Nolasco, a spokesman for Toyota Motor in Tokyo, told the BBC it had no immediate plans to add noise-making devices to the hybrid vehicles.

"But if it becomes a social concern, it is something we will have to address", Mr Nolasco added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8132548.stm>

By Jonathan Head BBC South East Asia correspondent

Ban Ki-moon is not a man known for taking risks. Yet his decision to visit Burma and meet its secretive military rulers - at a time when the rest of the world is outraged by their decision to put opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on trial - is quite a gamble.

The visit was requested by the Burmese government.

The generals are rarely graced by the presence of figures of Mr Ban's international stature in their bunker-like capital Nay Pyi Taw.

If the secretary-general gets nothing in return, he will be assailed by his detractors for being naive, for allowing the status of his high office to be used by a pariah regime.

Critics have already argued that a UN secretary-general's visit should be a prize, to be awarded after significant concessions have been made, not before.

But if Mr Ban's visit can revive a dialogue between the military and the opposition that has been dead for six years, he can chalk up the greatest achievements at the UN to date.

So what are his prospects?

Previous UN envoys have generally had little success in Burma.

Burma's rulers are prepared to sit in splendid isolation if they feel threatened by international pressure Why is junta afraid of Suu Kyi? Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi

The one exception was Razali Ismail, a distinguished Malaysian diplomat, who was appointed UN Special Envoy to Burma in April 2000.

He helped broker talks between the government and Aung San Suu Kyi that resulted in her release from house arrest in May 2002.

But after she was detained again a year later, Mr Razali was repeatedly denied entry to the country, and he resigned in frustration at the end of 2005.

His successor, Ibrahim Gambari, has led eight missions to Burma, but has little to show for them.

He arrived there right after the army's violent suppression of mass anti-government protests in September 2007, and thought he had been given assurances by Senior General Than Shwe that the military would be lenient with the protesters.

Since then, in a seemingly calculated snub to international opinion, military-dominated courts have imposed harsh sentences on hundreds of political prisoners. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8132723.stm>

A majority of public sector employees do not know about environmentally friendly IT targets set out in government's Greening ICT Strategy.

The strategy calls for government IT to be carbon neutral by 2012, with office carbon emissions down 11.5% by 2011.

One of the commissioners of the report says there are scattered trends toward compliance with the strategy.

However, a survey of IT managers in the public sector showed 60% did not know there were any targets to aim for.

The report, titled "The Path to Green Government", was produced by environmental charity Global Action Plan and commissioned by networking giant Cisco.

It is estimated that information and communication technology (ICT) accounts for one-fifth of the Government's carbon emissions. The Greening ICT Strategy was intended to put the government in a leadership role in the sustainable use of ICT.

A large proportion of carbon emissions can be blamed on the manufacture of new equipment, so a principal focus of the initiative is to make the best use of existing equipment.

However, there is more to the plan once procurement is slimmed down, according to Cisco's head of public sector Neil Crockett.

"There is another, much bigger debate about how ICT can enable other things to happen, like building management, travel reduction, flexible working," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8131566.stm>

By Damian Grammaticas BBC News, Kabul

Parked on the tarmac at Kabul airport was the gleaming, freshly-painted Antonov plane. We climbed aboard the first ever commercial flight to Uruzgan.

Inside we had a choice of seats. We were the only passengers on the Kam Air flight to Tirin Kot.

Flying above the vast, rugged expanse of southern Afghanistan, snow-capped peaks, barren mountains and fertile, green valleys, the journey took us into the heart of former Taliban territory.

The new air service to Uruzgan is one sign of the small but surprising progress being made by the Dutch who are in charge of international forces in the province.

Uruzgan is a bright spot in an otherwise depressing region for America and its allies.

Almost everywhere else in southern Afghanistan insurgent attacks have risen rapidly.

'Unique approach'

In Uruzgan attacks are falling, and areas under Taliban control are shrinking.

The Dutch say this progress is, in part, down to their unique approach.

[The Taliban's] freedom of movement is being limited more and more to the rough terrain Dutch commander Gen Tom Middendorp

Still dangers are everywhere, particularly from roadside bombs and suicide attacks.

So we rode into Tirin Kot in an armoured personnel carrier with Dutch soldiers who are trying to turn Afghan officers into professional policemen.

Outside the main police station was a pile of wrecked police cars, many destroyed by insurgents.

When the Dutch officer asked the policemen who was going to walk at the front of today's patrol, they all looked nervous.

"We want you to be friendly with the people. Stop and chat to them," said the Dutch commander.

"You have to win their trust to do your job properly."

It is a tall order. Many Afghans distrust the police. They see them as corrupt and brutal.

Back in the Netherlands, Rino, one of the Dutch police trainers, usually works at Schipol airport in Amsterdam.

"I think it's getting better because specially in the past there was a lot of corruption and they used a lot of violence," he says.

"So now we are bringing another attitude to these guys. And that is what they have to learn, to get more in contact with the local people." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8132330.stm>

Details about the personal life of the next head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, have been removed from Facebook.

The Mail on Sunday says his wife, Lady Shelley Sawers, put details about their children and the location of their flat on the social networking site.

The details, which also included holiday photographs, were removed after the paper contacted the Foreign Office.

MP Patrick Mercer, counter-terrorism sub-committee chairman, said he was disappointed by the couple's actions.

'Distressing and worrying'

He said: "Sir John and his family have been at the heart of the intelligence community for several decades now.

"It's distressing and worrying therefore that these sorts of details should be appearing in the public domain. I would have hoped these sort of mistakes would not have been made by people like that."

And the Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesman, Edward Davey, tells the paper he wants Gordon Brown to launch an inquiry into whether the disclosures have compromised Sir John's ability to take up his MI6 post.

Sir John is currently the UK's ambassador to the United Nations and will take up his new post in November.

The Mail on Sunday says the information included the couple's friendships with senior diplomats and well-known actors including Moir Leslie from BBC Radio 4's The Archers.

Lady Sawers revealed the location of the London flat used by the couple and the whereabouts of their three grown-up children and of Sir John's parents, the paper added. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8134807.stm>

By Laura Trevelyan BBC News, Bangkok

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has just returned from Burma, where the ruling general, Than Shwe, refused to allow him to meet jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Not until last Sunday did Ban Ki-moon finally decide to accept this Mission Impossible, visiting Burma just as Ms Suu Kyi's trial was scheduled to resume.

Mr Ban and his aides carefully weighed up whether to go or not.

US officials warned Mr Ban privately that he could be used by the generals to endorse their treatment of Ms Suu Kyi, a concern forcefully stated by Human Rights Watch.

France was lukewarm. Britain, the most gung-ho of the major powers at the UN on this topic, suggested Mr Ban see if he could visit later in July.

Russia and China were supportive of the visit so the UN Security Council, unhelpfully but typically, was split.

Some UN officials were concerned that Mr Ban might repeat the experience of his recent trip to Sri Lanka, in the immediate aftermath of the government's victory over the Tamil Tigers.

There the government seemed to be using Mr Ban's visit to endorse their position, seeing him as a figure to be taken on a victory lap of the conflict zone.

He visited government-run camps for displaced Tamils but his attempt to improve conditions there had to compete with the government's insistence that all was well. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8134798.stm>

Overview

• Overview
• Facts
• Leaders
• Media

A very small proportion of the land can sustain cash crops, including coffee and cocoa. Abundant rainforests provide the raw material for a logging industry, which is dominated by Malaysian-owned companies. Conservation groups have criticised the social and environmental impact of the activity.

Mineral deposits - including gold, copper and nickel - are extensive, but the difficult terrain and poor infrastructure make exploitation slow. There are significant reserves of oil and natural gas and the country has pinned its hopes on becoming a significant energy exporter.

The separatist struggle in the neighbouring Indonesian province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, prompted the flight of thousands of Papuans into Papua New Guinea from the mid-1980s onwards. Many of them remain in border-area jungle camps.

The Port Moresby government has said it will not tolerate the use of Papua New Guinean territory for Papuan separatist attacks on the Indonesian army.

Papua New Guinea had to deal with separatist forces of its own on the island of Bougainville in the 1990s. Up to 20,000 people were killed in the nine-year conflict which ended in 1997.

A peace deal signed in 2001 provided the framework for the election in 2005 of an autonomous government for Bougainville.

Papua New Guinea has strong ties with its southern neighbour, Australia, which administered the territory until independence in 1975. Canberra's substantial aid programme aims to relieve poverty and to boost development; Australia has also despatched police officers and civil servants to support their local equivalents.

The prevalence of HIV/Aids is on the rise; some experts fear that Papua New Guinea is heading for a crisis similar to that in sub-Saharan Africa. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1246074.stm>

A group of clerics in Iran has called Iran's presidential vote invalid, contradicting official results.

The pro-reform group's statement pits it against the top legislative body, which last week formally endorsed the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

On Saturday, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that post-election events had caused bitterness.

Britain said one of two UK embassy employees detained for "inciting protests" would be released.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in the aftermath of the poll to protest at what they alleged was a fraudulent election.

The protests died down after the authorities deployed lethal force, killing at least 20 demonstrators. More than 1,000 were arrested.

On Sunday, state news agency Irna quoted Iran's police chief as saying about two-thirds of those arrested had been released.

The authorities have blamed the West, in particular the UK, for fomenting the unrest through the use of the media, including BBC Persian television which broadcasts to the country via satellite.

The head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, has said "those who co-operate with such websites and television channels will face prosecution".

On Sunday, Iran's foreign ministry said a British-Greek journalist working for The Washington Times - who had been arrested in connection with "recent street riots" - had been released. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8134904.stm>

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

Honeybee hordes use two weapons - heat and carbon dioxide - to kill their natural enemies, giant hornets.

Japanese honeybees form "bee balls" - mobbing and smothering the predators.

This has previously been referred to as "heat-balling", but a study has now shown that carbon dioxide also plays a role in its lethal effectiveness.

In the journal Naturwissenschaften, the scientists describe how hornets are killed within 10 minutes when they are trapped inside a ball of bees.

Japanese giant hornets, which can be up to 5cm long, are voracious predators that can devastate bees' nests and consume their larvae.

But, if the bees spot their attacker in time, they mount a powerful defence in the form of a bee ball. This study found that the heat inside the bee ball alone was not enough to reliably kill the hornets.

"They can survive for 10 minutes at a temperature up to 47C, and the temperature inside the bee balls does not rise higher than 46C," said Fumio Sakamoto, a researcher from Kyoto Gakuen University in Japan, and one of the authors of the study.

His team recreated experimental bee balls and took direct measurements from inside them.

They anaesthetised giant hornets and fixed them to the tip either of a thermometer probe, or the inlet of a gas detector.

Once the hornets recovered from their anaesthesia, the probes were touched to the bees' nest.

"The bee ball formed (around the hornet) immediately," said Dr Sakamoto.

After 10 minutes the bees were packed solidly enough around the probe to be removed from the nest in a distinct ball.

As the temperature inside the ball increased to more than 45C, the carbon dioxide level also rose sharply.

In a parallel experiment, the scientists found that in an atmosphere relatively high in carbon dioxide, the temperature at which hornets could survive for 10 minutes was lowered.

"So we concluded that carbon dioxide produced inside the bee ball by the honeybees is a major factor, together with temperature, involved in the bees' defence."

Dr Sakamoto is not sure, at this point, whether the bees were effectively "gassing" the hornets, or simply depriving them of oxygen.

"Either way, the carbon dioxide increase and/or the oxygen decrease lowered the temperature that was lethal to the hornets, " he told BBC News.

"We are going to do the additional experiments about this point using mixed air of various oxygen and carbon dioxide (concentrations)."

The mob of bees also appeared to operate in "two phases".

"The hornet may be killed during the first 0-5 minute period, in which the highest level of heat production and carbon dioxide emissions take place," said Dr Sakamoto.

This might suggest that the bees are aware of what physiological state the hornet is in.

Dr Sakamoto said: "The latter 5-10 min period may be free running to ensure their victim's death." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8129536.stm>

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the Organisation of American States should take the lead in restoring the ousted president of Honduras to power.

Mr Ban told a Geneva news conference on Monday that the OAS must find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Elected president Manuel Zelaya was overthrown a week ago. The OAS has condemned the "military coup" and has suspended Honduras from membership.

On Sunday, Mr Zelaya failed in an attempt to fly back to Honduras.

His plane circled the airport of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, but could not land because authorities had blocked the runway with military vehicles. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8137078.stm>

Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran president who has been forced out of the country, stood for the Liberal Party in the November 2005 presidential election and won by a narrow margin.

Despite his centre-right credentials, the former businessman moved Honduras away from its traditional ally the US, winning the support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and other leftist leaders.

Mr Zelaya campaigned for office on a law and order ticket but, Reuters news agency reports, it remains a major drug-trafficking transit point, overrun by street gangs and violent crime.

Limited to a single four-year term in office under the current constitution, he was accused of seeking to change the law to allow him to stand for a second term, a charge he has denied. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8123134.stm>

His words on being the first person ever to set foot on the Moon have been written into soundbite history - but in the four decades since Neil Armstrong became a household name, he has also increasingly become an enigma.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Armstrong has refused to cash in on his fame and seemingly done everything in his power to diminish it.

FIND OUT MORE... Being Neil Armstrong, presented by Andrew Smith (right), is on BBC Four at 0000 BST, Tuesday 7 July Or watch it here on the BBC iPlayer

So what has made Neil Armstrong such a reluctant hero, unsusceptible to the normal trappings of celebrity? And why won't he speak about his historic journey?

In his quest to uncover the man behind the spacesuit, Andrew Smith, author of Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth, decided to travel across America to meet people who have had an impact on Armstrong's life.

His conclusion is that Armstrong, now 78, believes simply that he did not deserve the attention.

"There were 400,000 people that worked on that [Moon landing] programme in various different ways and he thinks he didn't deserve all the credit just because he did the flying part," says Smith.

But Armstrong became a celebrity overnight. The Apollo 11 Moon landing marked a seismic shift in space exploration during a time when the world was captivated by space. It was watched by the largest television audience of its time, and President Nixon put in a congratulatory phone call just after the US flag was planted.

On the astronauts' return, Nasa sent them on a world tour.

Although Neil Armstrong initially went along with the celebrations, he always remained aloof; an elusive presence who preferred to talk about facts rather than feelings.

He started to decline speeches and interviews, eventually refusing to sign autographs and shying away from being photographed in public.

"To my knowledge he has done two television interviews in the last 40 years - and he says nothing about what he felt about anything. He will talk about matters of fact and that's it," says Smith. The author has been repeatedly refused an interview with Armstrong despite many requests, although the pair have had e-mail correspondence.

"And he didn't want to profit from it financially - even though a lot of the other Moon walkers have done - and amazingly he's stood by that. An auction house told me that if Armstrong spent just one afternoon signing autographs he could make a million dollars, but he's always refused." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8133835.stm>

Former American secretaries of defence seldom get such widespread obituaries as Robert S McNamara.

Despite a distinguished career which saw him at the centre of power or influence at some of the most troubled times of the 20th Century, it was Errol Morris's 2003 film, The Fog of War, subtitled Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert McNamara, which singled out this former defence secretary.

In the film, McNamara spoke frankly about the Vietnam war, the Cuban missile crisis and World War II, giving a behind-the-scenes account of the context in which important decisions were taken, in so doing raising questions about the nature of war and human behaviour.

Born in San Francisco in 1916, McNamara graduated from the University of Berkeley in economics before gaining an MBA at Harvard.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A brilliant statistician, he was drafted to help develop methods of statistical control for managing the strategic bombing campaigns against Germany and Japan.

He worked with General Curtis LeMay on the firebombing of 67 Japanese cities that killed almost a million people, 100,000 on one night in wooden Tokyo.

In The Fog of War, he agreed with LeMay's assertion that the pair "were behaving as war criminals" and would have been tried as such had their side lost.

In 1946, McNamara was hired by the Ford Motor company to rejuvenate its flagging sales. He rose to become the first president of the company outside the Ford family.

He was one of the first to introduce safety features in order to reduce the death rate in crashes.

But in 1960, he was snapped up by President John F Kennedy to become his defence secretary.

In this post, he reformed Pentagon practices, oversaw a huge military build-up and was centrally involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when Soviet nuclear missiles were discovered in Cuba and the world teetered on the brink of a nuclear war for 13 days. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3740700.stm>

Matt Walker Editor, Earth News

There is a species of spider that builds models of itself, which it uses as decoys to distract predators.

The spider may be the first example of an animal building a life-size replica of its own body.

So believe the scientists who made the discovery, which is published in the journal Animal Behaviour.

The arachnid's behaviour also offers one explanation for why many spiders like to decorate their webs with strange-looking ornaments.

Many animals try to divert the attentions of predators by becoming masters of disguise.

Some try to avoid being seen altogether by using camouflage to blend in against a background, such as the peppered moth evolving motley wings that blend into tree bark, or stick insects that look like sticks.

Others evolve more conspicuous ornaments designed to distract a predator, such as butterflies that grow large eyespots or lizards that quickly move colourful tails, which they detach from their bodies if grabbed.

This latter strategy has puzzled biologists, because attracting predators in the first place is usually a bad idea.

One hypothesis is that animals which grow conspicuous ornaments benefit overall, because directing a predator to attack an expendable part of the body, such as the lizard's tail, outweighs the costs of attracting the attention of the predator in the first place. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8135000/8135844.stm>

Pakistan considers anti-Taliban militias

By Jill McGivering BBC News, Mianwali

Mianwali in Pakistan's western Punjab lies in the shadow of rugged mountains. On the other side of the range lies the North West Frontier Province where the army is engaged in a bloody offensive against the Taliban.

Giving them guns is a message of trust Akbar Nassir Khan District police officer Who are the Taliban?

In the last few months, that militancy has crept into Mianwali - with shootings and bomb attacks and the arrest of several suspected militants, including a would-be suicide bomber.

The local police force is struggling to face the new challenge.

It was already understaffed and its officers were trained to fight crime, not to cope with an insurgency.

They are also ill-equipped to match a force which uses rocket launchers, suicide jackets and improvised bombs.

Akbar Nassir Khan, the district police officer, looks exhausted.

He is trying to fill the gap by exploring new ideas, including setting up a special police force.

It would be made up of local people - but with the same powers as the police. Their main role would be to help with anti-terrorist activities.

These recruits would be issued guns licensed by the government and authorised to use them in pursuing suspected militants.

"Their prime task is anti-terrorist action," he explained.

"Giving them guns is a message of trust, that we know that you are with us, that you are patriots and you are able to defend yourself till the time we come to you." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8135416.stm>

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev are expected to announce nuclear weapons cuts when they meet later in Moscow.

Officials on both sides were quoted as saying a document had been agreed, though Russia said it was not final.

Both men say they want significant cuts - possibly down to 1,500 warheads each.

In addition Russia has been pressing Mr Obama to scrap a US plan for a missile defence shield in Europe. Afghanistan and Iran are also on the agenda.

President Obama will hold talks with Vladimir Putin, currently prime minister and formerly president, on Tuesday.

This is not some star coming to town Dmitry Trenin head of the Moscow Carnegie Centre think-tank A summit of limited expectations

Many analysts say he is still in the driving seat in the Russian government.

Both sides have made clear their desire to improve, or "reset", relations between Washington and Moscow.

But BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus, who is in Moscow, says that is not going to be easy given the different perceptions of their national interests the two sides bring to the table.

Under the previous Bush Administration, relations between Washington and Moscow were almost as bad as during the Cold War, so there is ample opportunity for improvement, he adds. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8135394.stm>

Violence in China's restive western region of Xinjiang has left at least 140 people dead and more than 800 people injured, state media say.

Several hundred people have also been arrested after the violence erupted in the city of Urumqi on Sunday.

Xinhua news agency said police restored order after demonstrators attacked passers-by and set fire to vehicles.

The government has blamed separatist Uighurs based abroad for orchestrating attacks on majority ethnic Han Chinese.

Uighur exiles said police had fired indiscriminately on a peaceful protest. An overnight curfew was imposed. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8135203.stm>

Profile: Hafiz Mohammad Saeed

Pakistan's Supreme Court has rejected on technical grounds appeals lodged by the government seeking the re-arrest of the head of an Islamic charity.

The government challenged a ruling to free Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, whose charity is suspected of being linked to a group accused of the Mumbai attacks.

The charity denies any links with militants involved in the attacks.

Lawyers for the Pakistani government said they would re-file the appeal after removing the technical flaws.

Mr Saeed was released by a court in June which found there was insufficient evidence for his continued detention.

He is the founder of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity accused of being a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group India says was behind last November's attacks in Mumbai.

India had calling Mr Saeed's release "regrettable".

More than 170 people died in the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks last November, including nine gunmen.

Mr Saeed denies the charges against him. He was placed under house arrest in December after the UN added him to a list of people and groups linked to al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

Founded in the late 1980s, Lashkar-e-Taiba is one of most feared groups fighting against Indian control in Kashmir.

After it was banned in Pakistan in 2002, the organisation divided itself into Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba, correspondents say.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa works as an Islamic charity all over Pakistan. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8137522.stm>

A British man convicted of being a member of al-Qaeda has accused MI5 and police of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Rangzieb Ahmed, from Rochdale, said he was offered a shorter jail term if he would drop claims UK officials were involved in his alleged torture.

Ahmed was jailed for life in December for directing terrorism. In the trial, Ahmed said he was tortured in Pakistan.

Whitehall said MI5 agents always operate within the law.

The North West Counter-Terrorism Unit denied any involvement in torture.

Ahmed accused the British of being complicit in his alleged mistreatment and he is now intending to sue.

In a letter seen by the BBC, his lawyers have written to the Crown Prosecution Service complaining about the alleged prison term reduction offer.

'No evidence'

His solicitor has asked that all records of the visit - including any secret recordings - should be kept.

Ahmed became the first al-Qaeda suspect convicted in the UK of directing terrorism following a trial at Manchester Crown Court.

He travelled to Dubai from Pakistan via China en route to South Africa in December 2005 as part of a "major activity", prosecutors at his trial said.

Ch Supt Tony Porter, head of the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit, said it did not "participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhumane or degrading treatment".

He added: "The case of Rangzieb Ahmed has been heard in court.

"The judges considered the allegations of UK complicity in mistreatment and made clear there was no evidence for this. These judgements are a matter of public record." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8137504.stm>

Three years in China

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has branded a top US envoy "an idiot" with a condescending attitude.

He said that Johnnie Carson, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, wanted to dictate what Zimbabwe could and could not do.

The two spoke on the sidelines of last week's African Union meeting in Libya.

The Obama administration has been sceptical of the power-sharing government formed between Mr Mugabe and his opposition rivals.

Mr Mugabe told The Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe that nothing came out of his talks with Mr Carson - his first meeting with a US government official for many years.

"You would not speak to an idiot of that nature," he said. "I was very angry with him, and he thinks he could dictate to us what to do and what not to do."

Mr Mugabe pointed out that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) supported the unity government. "We have the whole of SADC working with us, and you have the likes of little fellows like Carson, you see, wanting to say: 'You do this, you do that.'

"Who is he?

"I hope he was not speaking for Obama. I told him he was a shame, a great shame, being an African American."

Mr Mugabe was also not fond of Mr Carson's predecessor, Jendayi Frazer, who is also black.

In May last year he described her as "a little American girl trotting around the globe like a prostitute" after she suggested that the then-opposition Movement for Democratic Change had won the disputed presidential election.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has apologised to Mr Mugabe after ministers from his party, the MDC, boycotted a cabinet meeting last Monday.

The ministers had decided instead to head to Harare airport to welcome Mr Tsvangirai back from a tour of Europe and the United States, where he had been lobbying for aid for Zimbabwe.

He raised just $200m (£121m), not the $7bn the country's finance minister said the country needed to revive its economy.

President Obama committed $73 million, but said: "It will not be going to the government directly because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights, and rule of law." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8137046.stm>

New protests have flared in the western Chinese city of Urumqi, two days after more than 150 people died in clashes between police and demonstrators.

About 200 ethnic Uighurs, who are a Muslim minority, faced off against police to protest over the arrest of 1,434 people over Sunday's unrest.

Beijing and the Uighurs blame each other for the outbreak of violence.

Witnesses to Sunday's protests said Uighur protesters attacked vehicles before turning on local Han Chinese.

The unrest was apparently sparked by a brawl between Uighurs and ethnic Han Chinese several weeks earlier in a toy factory thousands of miles away in Guandong province.

Officials say 156 people - mostly ethnic Han Chinese - died in Sunday's violence and more than 1,000 were injured. Uighur groups say many more have died, claiming 90% of the dead were Uighurs.

State-run news agency Xinhua also reported a protest in another part of Xinjiang province on Monday, with police breaking up a 200-strong demonstration near a mosque in the city of Kashgar. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8137512.stm>

At least 40 people have been killed in a suspected US missile strike in north-west Pakistan, local officials say.

They told the BBC three suspected US drones had fired missiles at militants near Ladha in South Waziristan.

It is the third strike in two days, after 19 reportedly died in attacks earlier on Wednesday and on Tuesday.

Separately the Pakistani army said a Taliban leader in Swat valley, Maulana Fazlullah, has been wounded, but there has been no independent confirmation.

Army spokesman, Major-General Athar Abbas, told reporters:

"We have credible information that Maulana Fazlullah has been injured... But it is not possible to confirm whether he is alive or not."

Maulana Fazlullah is a radical cleric who commands the Pakistani Taliban in the Swat Valley.

Analysts describe him as the "architect" of the two-year uprising aimed at enforcing Sharia law in the Swat Valley, where troops have been engaged in a bitter campaign to oust Islamist fighters. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8139739.stm>

By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Char Dara district, Kunduz province

The northern Afghan province of Kunduz is renowned for its mouth-watering melons, rice and almonds.

Kunduzis are likely to remember their province as "the bread basket of Afghanistan" - it was the country's main source of cotton and fruit exports in more peaceful times.

But those memories might be fading fast. A recent spate of attacks by the Taliban and al-Qaeda has altered the face of Kunduz beyond all recognition.

I work in the fields with my father because our school was closed. I want to be an educated woman Zarmina, 13 years old

"The Taliban have closed girls' schools in the districts. They collect taxes from people and they have their own courts. The governor was attacked and the Taliban are in the villages. All because Kunduz is ignored by our president and ministers in Kabul," said a group of elders over endless cups of green tea in the provincial capital.

As you drive from Kabul into Kunduz city, it is not long before motorists come across a colourful billboard with a powerful message:

"Last year explosives killed 1,700 and injured more than 2,393 people. That is enough."

In this way, one fact becomes immediately clear to all those entering Kunduz: security is the most pressing concern in this far-flung northern province.

A senior interior ministry official in Kabul agrees the situation is volatile but rejects any accusations that the central government has turned a blind eye towards Kunduz.

"We know that the enemy is there in big numbers and there are also al-Qaeda fighters. We conducted a big operation in Goar Tepa and we will continue to kill and capture them. But we are waiting for people to collect their harvests," said the official, who wished to remain anonymous.

In recent months, Kunduz has felt the consequences of the Taliban presence - a senior Afghan government official was shot dead while driving to the Tajikistan border and four US soldiers were recently killed by a roadside bomb. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8138722.stm>

They are also threatening to destabilise Pakistan, where they control areas in the north-west and are blamed for a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks.

The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

A predominantly Pashtun movement, the Taliban came to prominence in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1994.

It is commonly believed that they first appeared in religious seminaries - mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia - which preached a hard line form of Sunni Islam.

The Taliban's promise - in Pashtun areas straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan - was to restore peace and security and enforce their own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power.

In both countries they introduced or supported Islamic punishments - such as public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers and amputations of those found guilty of theft.

Men were required to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka.

Madrassas

The Taliban showed a similar disdain for television, music and cinema and disapproved of girls aged 10 and over from going to school.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied that it is the architect of the Taliban enterprise.

But there is little doubt that many Afghans who initially joined the movement were educated in madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan.

Pakistan was also one of only three countries, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which recognised the Taliban when they were in power in Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until 2001.

It was also the last country to break diplomatic ties with the Taliban.

The attention of the world was drawn to the Taliban in Afghanistan following the attacks on the World Trade Centre in September 2001.

The Taliban in Afghanistan was accused of providing a sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda movement who were blamed for the attacks.

Soon after 9/11 the Taliban were driven from power in Afghanistan by a US-led coalition, although their leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was not captured - and neither was Osama Bin Laden.

In recent years the Taliban have re-emerged in Afghanistan and grown far stronger in Pakistan, where observers say there is loose co-ordination between different Taliban factions and militant groups.

The main Pakistani faction is led by Baitullah Mehsud, whose Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is blamed for dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks.

Observers warn against over-stating the existence of one unified insurgency against the Pakistani state, however.

The Taliban in Afghanistan are still believed to be led by Mullah Omar, a village clergyman who lost his right eye fighting the occupying forces of the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

Afghans, weary of the mujahideen's excesses and infighting after the Soviets were driven out, generally welcomed the Taliban when they first appeared on the scene.

THE TALIBAN Emerged in Afghanistan in 1994 Mainly supported by ethnic Pashtuns Toppled after US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 Fugitive leader Mullah Omar wanted, whereabouts unknown

Their early popularity was largely due to their success in stamping out corruption, curbing lawlessness and making the roads and the areas under their control safe for commerce to flourish.

From south-western Afghanistan, the Taliban quickly extended their influence. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1549285.stm>

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

Studies on monkeys have revealed clues about the evolution of language.

In the journal Biology Letters, researchers said that cotton-top tamarins are able to spot if the order of syllables in a word is "wrong".

They familiarised the monkeys with two-syllable terms, and recorded their reaction to words that were not consistent with that syllable pattern.

The team says the work illustrates how many animals use patterns that have become intrinsic to human language.

And this provides evidence of the "non-lingual" origin of certain aspects of language, the group told BBC News.

In the experiment, the monkeys were played a series of different words that all shared either the same first syllable or second syllable.

The idea was to investigate the origins of the prefixes and affixes used in many languages to indicate tense.

In English, for example, the past tense of a verb can be composed using the suffix "-ed" - "walk" becomes "walked".

Listening test

The monkeys were not trained to respond to specific words, but they were familiarised with a pattern - a particular prefix, or a suffix.

"In the prefixation condition, they heard 'shoy-bi', 'shoy-la', 'shoy-ro' and so on," explained Ansgar Endress, lead author of the study.

"The idea is that they get used to the pattern if you play it long enough."

The "suffixation" group heard words with a changing first syllable, this time with the suffix, "shoy", kept consistent - such as "bi-shoy" and "la-shoy".

The team played recordings of these "familiarisation" words to the animals for half an hour.

The following day, the monkeys were tested.

The researchers played them "new" words that were either consistent with the pattern they had heard before - with "shoy" in the right place - or inconsistent with the familiar pattern.

In bird song or whale song, there's a temporal ordering to the notes and that's critical for communication Marc Hauser, Harvard University

"We simply measured how often the monkeys looked to the speaker when we played the items," said Dr Endress.

"If they got used to, or bored by, the pattern, then they might be more interested in items that violate (it) - because they are something new - than in items that are consistent with the pattern."

Marc Hauser, who was also involved in this study, told BBC News that the results showed how human language had incorporated memory processes that were not "language-specific".

"Simple temporal ordering is shared with non-human animals," he said.

"This has an important role. In bird song or whale song, for example, there's a temporal ordering to the notes and that's critical for communication."

And it goes beyond that. "In primates, this ordering is vital for learning," explained Professor Hauser. "In tool use, primates learn from each other that you do this first, then you do that, then it's that."

Professor Hauser described how evident this innate ability is when a child learns language.

"As a child learns to use the past tense," he said, "they may generalise and use a suffix wrongly, but they will never generalise in the wrong direction.

"You never hear them say ed-walk instead of walked." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8139322.stm>

ANALYSIS By Tim Weber Business editor, BBC News website

So at long last Google is making its move. Promising a lightweight but fast operating system - Chrome OS - the internet search company is poised to strike at the heart of Microsoft's software empire.

The Windows operating system is Microsoft's cash cow, powering about 90% of the world's personal computers, and as a result accounting for the majority of its profits.

The benefits are wider, though. Every Windows desktop comes with an invitation (and at times the imperative) to use other Microsoft software and services.

This, in turn, hobbles Google's ambition of organising all the world's information, and making money on the back of it.

After all, most people's computer experience is bogged down with frustration - from the time it takes to start a computer, to software conflicts, and worries about viruses and malware (or for Apple Macs the cost of buying a computer). <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8140594.stm>

By Vaudine England BBC News, Guangzhou

Among the Uighurs who have settled in south-eastern China, it is hard to find anyone prepared to talk openly about life in the Han-majority country.

In Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, even people running restaurants that advertise Xinjiang food, have pictures of mosques on the wall, and employ staff wearing headscarves, insist they are not Uighur.

"We are from another minority," said a restaurateur, refusing to say which one.

On 26 June Han and Uighurs at a toy factory in the Guangdong town of Shaoguan fought each other for hours, leaving at least two dead and 118 injured.

It was over this violence that Uighurs in Urumqi, in the north-western Xinjiang province, rallied on Sunday, leading to much more deadly clashes.

Keeping heads down

The restaurateur in Guangzhou did admit to discomfort when watching state television images of recent deadly unrest in Urumqi, but discussing ethnic tensions remains taboo.

XINJIANG: ETHNIC UNREST Main ethnic division: 45% Uighur, 40% Han Chinese 26 June: Mass factory brawl after dispute between Han and Uighurs in Guangdong, southern China, leaves two dead 5 July: Uighur protest in Urumqi over the dispute turns violent, leaving 156 dead and more than 1,000 hurt 7 July: Uighur women protest at arrests of men-folk. Han Chinese make armed counter-march 8 July: President Hu Jintao returns from G8 summit to tackle crisis Q&A: China and the Uighurs Accounts of Xinjiang violence In pictures: Xinjiang troops Chinese media bullish over riots Assessing the role of Uighur exiles

The teenage son of another restaurateur, further along San Yuan Li Road in Guangzhou, was even more reticent.

"We don't have time to watch the news," he said.

Prospering in their new life, it seemed the last thing his family wanted was to be associated with rioting back in Xinjiang.

Around Guangzhou's old railway station, what was once a lively and extensive Muslim community has shrunk.

Those left seem determined to keep their heads down in times such as these.

Xinyue Muslim Restaurant in the Xinjiang Mansion - an official home to the representative office of the Uighur Autonomous Region's provincial government - offers nightly floor-shows by Uighur dancing girls.

But before a question about how the unrest in Xinjiang was affecting business could be completed, a waitress interjected.

"This is a very safe place - you don't need to worry," she said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8141541.stm>

By David Willey BBC Rome correspondent

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's billionaire prime minister, is playing host this week to leaders of the world's other seven most powerful industrial nations in the unlikeliest of all venues.

The central Italian mountain town of L'Aquila was all but wiped out by an earthquake last April, and continues to shudder with aftershocks.

He has also invited along to his mega-meeting the leaders of another two dozen countries including the economic giants of the future and a handful of much poorer African nations.

The event is called G8.

And it is already turning into something of a logistical nightmare. The VIP guests are being ferried by helicopter to and from the party venue - a rather unattractive but reputedly seismically safe police barracks, just outside L'Aquila, dressed up for the occasion.

A military exclusion zone has been set up around the barracks with roadblocks to ward off any potential party poopers in the shape of anti-global demonstrators.

Criticism

Thousands of police and soldiers with sharpshooters all around the perimeter are providing security, virtually cutting off the sorely tried citizens of L'Aquila from any contact with the celebrations.

True, Mr Berlusconi is already conducting his guests on guided tours of the heavily damaged city to demonstrate how well the Italian state is responding to the disaster which killed 300 and left 50,000 homeless.

However many of the homeless of L'Aquila are still living in tented camps just nearby, and to judge by some of their reactions expressed in the Italian media in recent days, they are not at all amused at being showcased to world leaders.

The local mayor, who belongs to the opposition Democrat party, says he is furious at the lack of progress so far in repairing the damage and rebuilding homes. He spoke angrily on Italian state TV about his city having disappeared into a "financial black hole" and Mr Berlusconi's failure to live up to to his generous promises of financial aid immediately after the quake.

Mr Berlusconi is also furious at what he claims is unfair criticism of his last-minute organisation of the G8 summit by the foreign press, egged on, he claims, by the left-wing opposition Democrats.

The summit was originally planned to be held on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia at a former US nuclear submarine base, with heads of state and their delegations accommodated on a luxury cruise liner. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8140030.stm>

By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, L'Aquila, Italy

The helicopter blades have stopped turning, the limousine engines have been switched off.

All the VIPs who have been flown or driven to the G8 summit in the central Italian city of L'Aquila have now arrived.

But even as it got under way there have been some who have been saying it has been badly organised.

Britain's Guardian newspaper was one that said preparations were so chaotic that there have been murmurings from other member states about expelling Italy from the G8.

The paper said that moving the summit from Sardinia to L'Aquila, which was hit by an earthquake in April, had created a situation where other countries were setting the agenda for the conference, instead of the host, Italy.

The Italians have reacted with anger and disbelief.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said it should be The Guardian who ought to be expelled from the list of great newspapers.

Then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi weighed in saying allegations of a shambolic conference were a "load of rubbish" from what he called a "small newspaper".

Mr Berlusconi is a seasoned politician with a thick skin, but he is feeling particularly sensitive to criticism at the moment, following a series of stories about his private life involving allegations of relationships and dalliances with young women.

He has denied them all in one way or another, but it is believed he sees the G8 as one way of drawing a line under the attacks.

Instead, he wants to portray himself as a world statesman.

However, newspapers and others are unlikely to be put off the chase, even though they might effectively suspend it for the duration of the three-day summit.

But Mr Berlusconi and others here are also being attacked on substance, especially for their policies on aid to Africa.

The twin anti-poverty voices of Bob Geldof and Bono, lead singer of U2, have said Mr Berlusconi, in particular, is simply not doing enough to make good on pledges to increase aid.

Mr Geldof has even labelled the Italian leader "Mister 3%" because that's the amount the Italians have increased their aid budget when they had promised to do much more.

Mr Berlusconi has had little choice but to roll over and take the criticism, though he insisted Italy would do more. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8141157.stm>

People with superior language skills early in life may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease decades later, research suggests.

A team from Johns Hopkins University studied the brains of 38 Catholic nuns after death.

They found those with good language skills early in life were less likely to have memory problems - even if their brains showed signs of dementia damage.

The study appears online in the journal Neurology.

One possible implication of this study is that an intellectual ability test in the early 20s may predict the likelihood of remaining cognitively normal five or six decades later Rebecca Wood Alzheimer's Research Trust

Dementia is linked to the formation of protein plaques and nerve cell tangles in the brain.

But scientists remain puzzled about why these signs of damage produce dementia symptoms in some people, but not others.

The researchers focused on nuns who were part of an ongoing clinical study.

They divided the women into those with memory problems and signs of dementia damage in the brain, and those whose memory was unaffected regardless of whether or not they showed signs of dementia damage.

And they also analysed essays that 14 of the women wrote as they entered the convent in their late teens or early 20s, assessing them for complexity of language and grammar.

The study showed that language scores were 20% higher in women without memory problems than those with signs of a malfunctioning memory.

The grammar score did not show any difference between the two groups.

Lead researcher Dr Juan Troncoso said: "Despite the small number of participants in this portion of the study, the finding is a fascinating one.

"Our results show that an intellectual ability test in the early 20s may predict the likelihood of remaining cognitively normal five or six decades later, even in the presence of a large amount of Alzheimer's disease pathology." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8140213.stm>

By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

Five doctors who worked in Sri Lanka's combat zone in the last weeks of the war say they exaggerated figures for civilian casualties.

They did so, they told reporters, because of pressure on them from the Tamil Tiger rebels, who controlled the area where they were working.

Sri Lanka's government declared victory in its war with Tamil Tigers in May.

The five have been in detention since then, but say they have been under no pressure to recant.

The appearance before reporters was an extraordinary event, which took place at the Sri Lankan government's Media Centre for National Security.

The centre is usually a venue for military spokesmen to talk about Sri Lankan war matters. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8141007.stm>

The publisher of the News of the World paid £1m in court costs after its journalists were accused of involvement in phone tapping, it has been claimed.

The Guardian says three cases were settled out of court after journalists allegedly hired private investigators who obtained the information illegally.

It claims News Group paid £700,000 in damages and costs to the head of the professional footballers' association.

News International told the paper the case "means nothing to anyone here".

A spokesman said: "This particular case means nothing to anyone here, and I've talked to all the people who would be involved." The BBC has yet to receive a response from News International.

Mobile phones

The Guardian claims up to 3,000 high-profile figures were targeted including model Elle Macpherson, former deputy prime minister John Prescott and the publicist Max Clifford.

The News of the World editor at the time, Andy Coulson, said: "This story relates to an alleged payment made after I left the News of the World two and a half years ago. I have no knowledge whatsoever of any settlement with Gordon Taylor."

A lot of the stories in the paper were coming from information that was highly private John Prescott

Mr Coulson, now the Conservative Party communications director, declined to comment further.

A spokeswoman for David Cameron said the Conservative leader was "very relaxed" about the story.

"The ramping up of this story is ridiculous - this is about a payment made well after Andy (Coulson) left the News of the World," she said.

The Guardian says evidence alleging journalists used investigators to hack into the mobile phone messages and voicemails of numerous public figures was presented in High Court proceedings.

It claims the investigators went in search of information such as bank statements and tax records.

Mr Prescott told the BBC he had not been told his phone may have been tapped.

"I had no evidence of this though frankly, a lot of the stories in the paper were coming from information that was highly private," he said. "It's quite staggering really." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8141300.stm>

By Jonathan Head BBC News, Bangkok

The trial of the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is resuming after a six week break.

Ms Suu Kyi has been charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest after an American well-wisher swam to her home in Rangoon across a lake.

Last week the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon visited Burma to make a personal appeal for all political prisoners to be freed.

But the military government would not allow him even to meet Ms Suu Kyi.

Having seen off the UN Secretary General last week without making any significant concessions, Burma's military rulers can now get on with the business of neutralising their main political opponent.

The trial of Aung San Suu Kyi has been repeatedly delayed over the last six weeks, while the UN negotiated the terms of Ban Ki-moon's visit.

Ms Suu Kyi's lawyer now expects it to conclude quickly, with a guilty verdict and continued incarceration for the opposition leader a near-certainty.

That would mean she and her party will play no role in the election planned by the military government next year - so that election is unlikely to be recognised as legitimate by much of the world.

Still, the thinking of the senior generals shut off in their fortress-like capital is hard to fathom - there is always the possibility of a surprise decision.

What happens in Burma now depends entirely on what they do - 20 years of sustained international pressure has achieved almost nothing. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8143570.stm>

The UK and other Nato members should take a tougher approach to Russia, the Commons Defence Committee has urged.

The MPs said that while co-operation was needed on many issues, it should not mean "accepting the legitimacy of a Russian sphere of influence."

The UK should continue to call on Moscow to withdraw its forces from Georgian territory, the report adds.

Ministers were also urged to take a "more robust approach" about Russian incursions into airspace near the UK.

It said the flights were "not the actions of a friendly nation and risk escalating tension".

Sphere of influence

The committee urged the government to take a "hard-headed" approach to Moscow, based on the reality of Russian foreign policy.

It said that while Russia did not pose a direct threat to British security in the near feature, it is understandable why some Nato members closer to Russia's borders might be worried - especially in the light of Russia's military action in Georgia last year.

It also calls on Nato to provide reassurance to states that feel threatened through robust contingency planning.

"However desirable co-operation with Russia may be, it should not come at the price of accepting the legitimacy of a Russian sphere of influence," it says.

Although the MPs welcomed the resumption of dialogue between Nato and Russia, they said the alliance must discuss areas not just of co-operation but also of disagreement, including Russia's claim to a sphere of influence in former Soviet states. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8143487.stm>

One in three breast cancers detected by mammogram screening may actually be harmless, a study has suggested.

Data from five countries, including the UK, suggest some women may have had unnecessary treatment for cancers that were unlikely to kill them or spread.

As it is not possible to distinguish between lethal and harmless cancers, all are treated.

But advocates of screening insist it is a vital tool for early detection of cancerous cells.

Screening programmes

Researchers from the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark said their results showed cancer screening programmes could lead to "overdiagnosis".

Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), they said: "Screening for cancer may lead to earlier detection of lethal cancers but also detects harmless ones that will not cause death or symptoms.

"The detection of such cancers, which would not have been identified clinically in someone's remaining lifetime, is called overdiagnosis and can only be harmful to those who experience it."

Based on all the current evidence, we believe the benefits of detecting breast cancer early still outweigh the risks Dr Sarah Cant

They looked at a range of statistics from five countries which had implemented screening programmes, including data for England and Wales from between 1971 and 1999.

The findings seem to confirm research published by the same team earlier this year.

Dr Sarah Cant, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said she hoped the research would not discourage women from attending screening.

"Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to predict which cancers found through screening will develop aggressively and which will grow very slowly," she said.

"Based on all the current evidence, we believe the benefits of detecting breast cancer early still outweigh the risks."

She added that women needed to be given clear information about breast screening and it was important to remember that "while survival rates have increased greatly in recent years, just under 12,000 women still die from this disease each year in the UK." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8143564.stm>

A report in a Russian military journal claims that half the planes Russia lost in its war with Georgia last year were shot down by friendly fire.

The article, in the Moscow Defence Brief magazine, also claims that Russia lost a total of six military aircraft, two more than it is admitting to.

The report is highly critical of Russian forces during the brief war.

But a senior Russian military official said the information contained in the report was incorrect.

Interfax news agency quoted deputy chief of the General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn as saying Russia had already provided full information about losses during the conflict with Georgia and there was nothing to add to this.

"Regarding insinuations that Russian air force planes were shot down by our own air defences, these also bear no relation to the truth," he added.

Russian air force officials have always claimed that four planes were lost during the five-day war last August.

'No co-operation'

The report was written by the respected Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategy and Technology (Cast).

Cast gives detailed information about each of the losses, including times, locations and the names of the pilots.

It is also highly critical of the Russian military.

It says there was a total absence of co-operation between the Russian army and the Russian air force, which led them to conduct completely separate campaigns.

Russian forces easily overwhelmed Georgian troops during the brief war.

But the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says losses sustained by the Russian side in just five days have led analysts here to question how Russian troops would fare against a bigger, better-equipped and better-trained enemy. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8142999.stm>

The Sri Lankan government has told international relief agencies to cut back their activities in the country.

The government said the decision was taken because there was no more fighting, following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers rebels in May.

The International Red Cross (ICRC) says it is closing four offices in Sri Lanka's Eastern Province.

But it says an estimated 300,000 displaced people still need food, medicine and help to return home.

An ICRC spokeswoman in Colombo said the latest government decision did not affect its work at the Menik Farm camp complex in the north of the country, where more than 200,000 displaced Tamil civilians are detained.

The Sri Lankan authorities have been under pressure from aid agencies to relax official restrictions on access to camps where internally-displaced people are being held.

In the last months of fighting, tensions rose between the ICRC and the government over the fate of civilians. The ICRC spoke at the time of a "humanitarian catastrophe" but the government accused it of spreading panic. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8142550.stm>

The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq has won the right to a judicial review of the government's refusal to hold a public inquiry into Snatch Land Rovers.

Susan Smith, of Tamworth, Staffs, whose son Phillip Hewett, 21, died in 2005, is challenging the use of the vehicles in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But Mr Justice Mitting said the review would not cover the present and future use of the lightly armoured vehicles.

They have been criticised for offering poor protection from bomb blasts.

The High Court heard that 37 soldiers had died in Iraq and Afghanistan while using the vehicles since 2005.  

However, the judge said the vehicles' present and future deployment was "unimpeachable" in the courts.

Ms Smith's son, a private in the 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment, and two other soldiers were killed in the Al Amarah region of Iraq on 16 July 2005.

Pte Hewett was driving a Snatch Land Rover when it was hit by a roadside bomb attack on three of the vehicles on patrol.

Mr Justice Mitting said three issues could be investigated if a full inquiry is held:

• Should different equipment, such as the more heavily armoured Cougar Mastiff, have been procured and deployed in 2005 and 2006
• If so, could the deaths of some or all of the soldiers have been avoided
• And if so, why was that equipment not procured and deployed

Ministry of Defence lawyers had argued that a coroner's inquest held into Pte Hewett's death was adequate.

But the judge said such hearings were not able to address "systemic issues which give rise to public concern".

After the decision Ms Smith said she was "delighted".

"It is only the first stage, but I am just glad that someone is listening. It isn't just me. You have got three other families here who have lost their sons, all in similar circumstances," she said.

Ms Smith and at least three other families are seeking damages against the MoD over Snatch vehicle military deaths in separate proceedings.

The Snatch was originally designed for use in Northern Ireland as a cheap and quick way of moving troops about. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8144431.stm>

By Oana Lungescu BBC News, the Netherlands

Five hundred years after the birth of French Protestant theologian John Calvin, his teachings seem more topical than ever.

Hard work and frugality, the values espoused by Calvinism, are back in fashion as people reassess their lives because of the economic crisis.

Nowhere is this more so than in the Netherlands, which is often described as the most Calvinist nation in the world. Calvin never set foot there, but his influence is hard to miss.

The Thomas church, in Amsterdam's financial district, looks far from inviting, with stark concrete walls and bare brick floors. You could call it Calvinist architecture - but the simplicity has a calming effect.

With all the excess, I thought the sobriety, the down-to-earth approach to things, is right after all Ingrid Toth, translator

Ruben van Zwieten, 25, is training to be a reverend here. Unusually, he also runs a recruitment company.

So he feels he is uniquely placed to give business people a chance to unload their burdens.

"I know a lot of people working in the business district, I know their doubts," Ruben said. "They are working harder and harder and it seems increasingly meaningless."

Bringing people together

With his navy blazer, this tall young man looks more like a fashion model than a man of the church.

Maybe that is why Ruben has found ways to make Calvinism cool. In the autumn, he is planning to bring together bankers and local Muslim youths for a football match.

On Valentine's Day, he asked some 200 young professionals to "date" senior citizens from the parish.

The economic crisis is also a moral crisis created by greed, preoccupation with money and egotistical acts Jan-Peter Balkenende, Dutch prime minister

So, for instance, a 35-year-old banker from ABN-AMRO went to a park with an 88-year-old woman.

Afterwards, a young man told Ruben: "I feel more like a human being after this day."

Among those who have started coming to Ruben's lunch-time services is Ingrid Toth, a translator.

When asked if Calvinism is relevant today, she laughs.

"It's very strange to hear myself saying this, but yes. With all the excess, I thought the sobriety, the down-to-earth approach to things, is right after all."

From the Thomas church, it is just a short walk to the glass-fronted building of the Amsterdam World Trade Centre.

But few here spend their lunch hour praying or confessing their financial sins.

"They might consider turning to Calvinism because of the crisis," said Hendrick Sippe, who works for an American bank.

"But soon they go back to the old patterns and after a few years, the sky's the limit." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8140821.stm>

Gaddafi and Brown in first talks

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and UK PM Gordon Brown have discussed the fate of the Lockerbie bomber during their first talks, held at the G8 summit.

Col Gaddafi urged Mr Brown to allow the man convicted of bombing a plane over Scotland, now terminally ill, to serve his remaining sentence in Tripoli.

The summit in Italy also saw the first handshake between Libya's leader, once a global pariah, and a US president.

Col Gadaffi and Barack Obama were filmed greeting each other on Thursday.

The two men were seated near each other at dinner, with only Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi between them.

Diplomatic thaw

The United States and Libya resumed diplomatic ties in 2004, after more than 20 years, during which the US dubbed Libya a state sponsor of terrorism.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and US President Barack Obama in Italy
Col Gaddafi and Mr Obama were seated close together at dinner

Condoleezza Rice, the then US Secretary of State, visited Col Gaddafi last year and former President George Bush spoke to him on the phone, but the Libyan leader had never before met a US president.

US and British relations with Libya thawed after it agreed to pay compensation to the families of the 270 people who died in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, and to stop pursuing nuclear weapons.

A spokesman for the British prime minister said that during the meeting there was agreement that the relationship between the UK and Libya was "strong" and "would grow still stronger".

The two leaders also discussed the case of the case of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in 1984, Downing Street said.

Nuclear proliferation, rising oil prices and better representation for Africa on international institutions like the IMF or World Bank were also covered in the 45-minute meeting. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8143977.stm>

The head of Los Angeles police has refused to rule out murder in the investigation into the death of singer Michael Jackson, two weeks ago.

Police Chief William Bratton told US news broadcaster CNN that police were awaiting toxicology results.

"Are we dealing with a homicide or are we dealing with accidental overdose... I don't have that information."

Meanwhile, Jackson's father, Joe, 79, speaking about the death on ABC News, said: "I do believe it was foul play."

Mr Jackson - who is due to attend a memorial service in the family's hometown of Gary, Indiana, later - has previously said he had "a lot of concerns" over events surrounding his son's death, and that the family "suspected foul play somewhere".

The Los Angeles coroner has said that an autopsy the day after the singer's death revealed no evidence of foul play and that toxicology test results could take weeks to come back.

A spokesman for the coroner's office said Jackson had taken "some prescription medication", without specifying which. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8143756.stm>

Turkey's prime minister has described ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang region as "a kind of genocide".

"There is no other way of commenting on this event," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

He spoke after a night-time curfew was reimposed in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, where Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese clashed last Sunday.

The death toll from the violence there has now risen from 156 to 184, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports. More than 1,000 people were injured.

Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, shares linguistic and religious links with the Uighurs in China's western-most region.

Quentin Sommerville, BBC News, Urumqi After Friday's prayers, a small group of Uighur Muslims marched along an Urumqi street demanding the release of men detained for their alleged role in last Sunday's riot. A large number of riot police surrounded the group, they punched and kicked the protestors - one officer used his baton to beat one of the Uighurs. A number of foreign journalists had their equipment seized, some have been detained. Earlier the group said they feared for their safety. There's no word from the authorities as to what happened to them. In pictures: Closed mosques New media openness Q&A: China and the Uighurs

"The event taking place in China is a kind of genocide," Mr Erdogan told reporters in Turkey's capital, Ankara.

"There are atrocities there, hundreds of people have been killed and 1,000 hurt. We have difficulty understanding how China's leadership can remain a spectator in the face of these events."

The Turkish premier also urged Beijing to "address the question of human rights and do what is necessary to prosecute the guilty".

Mr Erdogan's comments came a day after Turkish Trade and Industry Minister Nihat Ergun urged Turks to boycott Chinese goods.

Beijing has so far not publicly commented on Mr Erdogan's criticism.

But it said that of the 184 people who died, 137 were Han Chinese. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8145451.stm>

By Rustam Qobil BBC Uzbek

More from BBC World Service

In rapidly-changing Kabul, the old musician's quarter Harabat is still marked by past bloodshed and destruction.

While money has poured into the physical regeneration of Afghanistan, the country's cultural life has been largely ignored.

Traditional music, reviled by the Taliban regime, is one case in point.

Harabat is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Afghanistan's capital.

Very few buildings here have been left unharmed by rocket attacks, and traders along the quarter's main street park their carts piled with second-hand clothes surrounded by the ruins of once magnificent buildings.

No money

These ruins used to be home to dozens of small music schools, where famous Afghan Ustads or Maestros, taught youngsters traditional Afghan music, passing their skills on to new generations.

Classical Afghan music is a fine blend of South and Central Asian traditions and Middle Eastern melodies. It has its own unique voice, which was defined, polished and perfected in Harabat.

But in the decades of conflict, Harabat was first targeted by the Mujahideen forces in the early 1990s when the Taliban tried to eliminate everything associated with music and art.

Many Ustads had to leave their music schools and became refugees in neighbouring countries.

Now some of them are back in Kabul, determined to bring the quarter's tradition back to life.

In a small room above a row of shops, the Amiri family has set up a Harabat-style traditional school.

"We teach youngsters to play rubab, tabla and harmonium. We also work with their voices and they learn classical songs," says Nasir Amiri, one of three brothers running the school.

"Altogether, we have six pupils. But young people lack patience to learn classical music these days," he says.

There are a few music schools in Harabat now, and few are driven by the desire to make money.

Those who can't afford to pay can attend lessons for free.

"We were taught music by our father, Muhammad Amiri, who was one of the famous Ustads of Harabat," Nasir says.

"After his death, we feel obliged to continue his work, even if we don't make any money out of it". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8138692.stm>

Governments and companies should limit the snooping they do on web users.

So said Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, who said that growing oversight of browsing could have a pernicious effect.

A greater part of the value of the web lay in the lack of constraints on what people could do with it.

He also warned that attempts to censor what people could say or what they could do online were ultimately doomed to failure.

Open triumph

"When you use the internet it is important that the medium should not be set up with constraints," he said.

The internet, said Sir Tim, should be like a blank piece of paper. Just as governments and companies cannot police what people write or draw on that sheet of paper so they should not be restricted from putting the web to their own uses.

"The canvas should be blank," he said

While governments do need some powers to police unacceptable uses of the web; limits should be placed on these powers, he said.

It's a wonderful experiment and I hope it will have consequences for the way TV is produced in the future Russell Barnes, Digital Revolution producer Find out more about Digital Revolution

If people know that where they go online and the terms they look for are under scrutiny it could have all kinds of pernicious effects, he warned.

Repressive regimes, such as China and Iran, that work hard to limit what people can do online would struggle to maintain that control over time, he said.

"The trend over the years is that the internet in the end goes around censorship and openness eventually triumphs," he said. "But it is by no means an easy road."

Sir Tim made his comments during a speech at an event that helped to launch the BBC Two series Digital Revolution.

The four-part series aims to explore the history of the World Wide Web and generate debate about how it is changing the way people live their lives. It aims to debate how the web is changing the nation state, how it affects identity, freedom and anonymity.

Over the next eight months as the programme is being produced, viewers will be encouraged to get involved by sending in questions for interview subjects and being able to produce their own clips using the rushes generated during filming.

Social media researcher and broadcaster Aleks Krotoski will present the series of programmes. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8144713.stm>

One of only two defence witnesses allowed in the trial of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has testified in court.

Dozens of Ms Suu Kyi's supporters gathered outside Insein Prison near Rangoon, where she is being tried for breaking the terms of her house arrest.

The witness, lawyer Khin Moe Moe, argued that the charges against the defendant were illegal.

The court will reconvene in two weeks' time to hear final arguments.

I have known her for 20 years and, based on that and legal points, I made my testimony, Khin Moe Moe, defence witness

Ms Suu Kyi is accused of breaking the terms of her house arrest after a man, a US citizen, swam across a lake to her home in Rangoon.

Governments around the world have called for the release of the veteran National League for Democracy (NLD) leader.

But a guilty verdict and further detention are widely expected. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8143570.stm>

A form of Ebola virus has been detected in pigs for the first time, raising concerns it could mutate and pose a new risk to humans.

Ebola-Reston virus (REBOV) has only previously been seen in monkeys and humans - and has not caused illness.

But researchers are concerned that pigs might provide a melting pot where the virus could mutate into something more menacing for humans.

The new discovery - in the Philippines - is featured in the journal Science.

However, the researchers, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stress that the virus at present appears to pose no risk to humans.

It has been detected in farm workers who tend the infected pigs, and they have shown no signs of illness.

However, writing in Science, the researchers said: "REBOV infection in domestic swine raises concern about the potential for emerging disease in humans and a wider range of livestock.

"There is concern that its passage through swine may allow REBOV to diverge and shift its potential for pathogenicity."