Policing the World-15

Scientists believe they may have uncovered a key reason why obese people have a raised risk of health complications such as type 2 diabetes.

They blame a specific protein - pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) - which is secreted by fat cells.

The Australian and US research on mice suggests blocking some of PEDF's action may reverse some complications - raising hopes of new drug treatments.

Because PEDF is produced by fat cells people who are overweight have higher levels of the protein in the bloodstream.

The latest research shows that the protein sends a signal to other tissues in the body, triggering development of insulin resistance - a condition that often leads to type 2 diabetes - in the muscle and liver.

Raised PEDF levels were also linked to a release of fats into the bloodstream, raising the risk of complications such as heart disease.

In tests on obese mice, the researchers found that treatments designed to block the action of PEDF lowered the animals' blood fat level and reversed some of their insulin resistance.

Fat cells are known to play an important role in regulating the body's metabolism by releasing hormones and other chemicals.

This pattern of secretion is also known to change with the size of the fat cells.

The latest study set out to identify which of these secretions had a profound general impact on metabolism.

The researchers took particular interest in PEDF because it was already known that levels of the protein were raised in people with type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome - a collection of risk factors including too much belly fat, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

They found that of all the molecules secreted by fat cells PEDF was among the most abundant.

They also showed that PEDF levels fell in obese mice when they lost weight, either by using diet or drugs.

When lean mice were injected with PEDF they showed signs of developing insulin resistance and inflammation in both muscle and liver.

The increasingly deadly conflict in Afghanistan is a "serious fight" but one essential for the future stability of the country, the US president says.

Insisting that US and allied troops have pushed back the Taliban, Barack Obama said the immediate target was to steer Afghanistan through elections.

Mr Obama spoke to Sky News as concern grew in the UK at the rising British death toll in Afghanistan.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also forced on Saturday to justify British involvement in Afghanistan.

Mr Brown said the UK's military deployment there was aimed at preventing terrorism in the UK.

Fifteen British troops have died in the past 10 days, pushing the country's number of deaths in Afghanistan past the number killed in action in Iraq. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8146309.stm>

Pakistan says the army has almost ended operations against the Taliban in the former tourist resort of Swat and nearby districts. Some two million people are being urged to return to their homes in the north-west. The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan reports from Swat's main town, Mingora.

Destroyed buildings and broken roads mark the passage of fighting which was heaviest close to Mingora.

"We came back to check out whether our house and belongings had survived the fighting," Abdullah, a Mingora resident, told us.

"Thanks to Allah, it has survived intact. Now I am going back to my family, who are in a camp in Mardan."

Abdullah tells us the situation has improved greatly and the army is largely in control.

He had just one complaint: "The army is still making it very hard for us to get around. We have to stop at every checkpoint and identify ourselves.

Because of such restrictions, most travellers we met, including Abdullah, were on foot.

Curfews can leave people stranded for hours - after nearly three hours of arguments and phone calls with local military and civil authorities, we were able to get a curfew pass.

But even so, it took us nearly four and a half hours to cover a distance which usually takes two. The main reason were security checkpoints lining the road to Mingora.

In addition, bands of soldiers on patrol would also stop anyone they deemed suspicious.

We pass the village of Qamber, strategically located on a hill outside Mingora guarding the road into town.

"This is where the Taliban made their stand against the army," says Mingora resident Yousuf Khan.

There are no buildings left in Qamber, just ruins, pieces of brick and scorched roads, a testament to the intensity of the fighting that went on here.

But the militants finally had to retreat and Mingora is now in complete control of the army.

Fighting has taken place in some quarters of the city, and a number of buildings and premises have been damaged.

In a quiet neighbourhood in the centre of Damascus Michel Kilo sits in his small flat sipping coffee as his wife shells beans for lunch.

His TV is tuned to an Arabic news channel, his reading glasses sitting on his nose as he catches the latest developments from Tehran.

Weeks after finishing a three-year prison sentence, Mr Kilo dedicates his time to family life, while the enthusiasm that characterised his writing before his arrest is now directed solely at articles focusing on pan-Arab and regional issues, rather than local ones.

In 2006, Mr Kilo and 10 other activists were arrested after signing the Damascus-Beirut declaration.

The statement, backed by Lebanese and Syrian intellectuals, called for normalising bilateral relations after decades of Syrian domination of its smaller neighbour Lebanon.

At the time, with Syria under severe international pressure, the authorities' tolerance of the move was very limited.

Damascus faced accusations of supporting insurgency in Iraq, and involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

But today, the situation has changed. The country is no longer isolated by the West and key Western leaders have approached Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to help stabilise the region.

The country has attracted both foreign investment as well as tourism - signs it is beginning to come in from the cold.

But the authorities show no sign of relinquishing the tight control which the Baath Party has exerted since it took power in a 1963 coup and banned all opposition.

"The priority is not to have any opposition or independent voices and it is successful in oppressing this scene," says Yassin Haj Saleh, a writer and human rights activist. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8143930.stm>

Los Angeles city council officials have called for a review on who should foot the $1.4m (Â£864,000) bill for Michael Jackson's memorial gig.

Councilman Dennis Zine claims taxpayers, who have been asked to make donations, "are getting ripped off".

He has asked for a report on policing and traffic control costs for last week's service at the Staples Center, which was attended by 17,000 fans.

However, security around the event resulted in high costs to Los Angeles at a time when the city is in debt for half of a billion dollars.

Roads were closed to allow the hearse carrying Jackson's body to travel the 10 miles from the Forest Lawn cemetery to the venue.

And the memorial, watched on TV by more than 31 million people in the US and millions more around the world, required the deployment of thousands of police officers and emergency services.

At a meeting on Thursday, Zine asked whether the event's promoters or producers might provide "reimbursement to the city to replenish the public safety and other critical funds".

Last week, the mayor's office revealed around $17, 000 (Â£10, 400) had been donated to a website collecting cash before it collapsed.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson's sister has told Sunday newspapers she believes the singer was "murdered" for his money, claiming money and jewels have since gone missing.

She told UK newspaper, the News of the World: "We don't think just one person was involved in the murder. It was a conspiracy to get Michael's money."

Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney gave direct orders to the CIA to conceal an intelligence programme from Congress, US media reports say.

The existence of the programme, set up after 9/11, was hidden for eight years and even now its nature is not known.

CIA director Leon Panetta is said to have abandoned the project when he learnt of it last month.

He has now told a House committee that Mr Cheney was behind the secrecy, the unnamed US sources say.

The claims come amid an increasingly bitter row between the CIA and Congress over whether key information was withheld about other aspects of the agency's operations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has claimed that the CIA misled her about interrogation methods including waterboarding, while other senior Democrats have quoted Mr Panetta as admitting that his agency regularly misled Congress before he took office.

Details of the newly-revealed secret programme have still not been divulged, but sources say it did not relate to the CIA's rendition programme, interrogation methods or a controversial domestic surveillance project.

Officials quoted by the New York Times say the programme was launched by anti-terror operatives at the CIA soon after the 2001 attacks, and involved planning and training but never became fully operational.

Another unnamed official told AP it was an embryonic intelligence-gathering effort, aimed at yielding intelligence that would be used to conduct covert operations abroad.

Sources have told a number of US media outlets Mr Cheney personally instructed the CIA to withhold information about the programme from Congress.

Mr Panetta - who took over directorship of the CIA under President Obama's administration - is said to have learnt about the programme only on 23 June.

The next day he called an emergency meeting with congressional intelligence committees to tell them about its existence and to say that it was being cancelled, the reports say. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8146466.stm>

He may only have been in Africa for 21 hours but it was long enough for Barack Obama to send out his inspiring message across the continent - "A New Moment Of Promise," he called it.

He urged Africans to stop laying the blame elsewhere and to take control of their own destiny.

He encouraged the younger generation to catch the "Yes We Can" fever that had assisted his own rise to the White House.

Strengthening democracy from the grassroots requires some brave foot soldiers and Mr Obama singled out the work of civil society groups such as Zimbabwe's Election Support Network, which struggled to ensure people's votes counted in the face of a violent state-driven clampdown.

"Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans, and not with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions," Mr Obama stated.

Ghana is a case in point - one of the reasons for Ghana's successful election late last year was its strong electoral commission.

Along the West African coast the Sierra Leone People's Party was voted out of power in 2007 amid growing anger at government corruption.

The election worked because the National Electoral Commission, headed by Christiana Thorpe, was strong and did not buckle under pressure to fix the vote.

The strong institutions are certainly lacking in Barack Obama's African home - Kenya.

When Mwai Kibaki was announced the winner of the 2007 election, the head of the government-appointed electoral commission, Simon Kivuiti, admitted that he did not know for sure if Mr Kibaki had won.

During his speech Barack Obama did not name and shame leaders - that is not his style.

But his denunciation of Africa's "strong men" will have made a few leaders squirm in their presidential palaces.

Mr Obama seemed to be adding his voice to the collective despair across West Africa as Niger's president, Mamadou Tandja, tears up the rule book in an attempt to stay in power.

Cameroon's Paul Biya, Senegal's octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and several others have also changed the rules in order to remain in office. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8146508.stm>

"There are four ways our officers can get themselves killed," says Major Gabriel Rodas, director of Ciudad Barrios prison in rural El Salvador.

"First, if they receive money from the prisoners as part of a deal and then they don't fulfil their side. Secondly, if they hit a prisoner. Thirdly, if they mistreat prisoners' visitors. And fourthly, if they have affairs with the prisoners' girlfriends."

These are not empty words. Since early last year, two prison guards at Ciudad Barrios have been killed.

Their deaths occurred away from the relative safety of the jail. But Major Rodas does not doubt that those ultimately responsible are among the inmates, all of them members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang - known as the MS.

"They activate their people on the outside by mobile phone. And the latter do the killing," he said.

The gang emerged in the 1980s, formed by Salvadoreans living in the United States. It quickly spread throughout Central America.

Over the past decade, US authorities have deported hundreds of members back to El Salvador, but the MS has used the policy to its own advantage, cementing transnational links for drugs trafficking and other activities.

Today, nearly 7,000 gang members are currently behind bars in El Salvador, representing a third of the national prison population.

However, as a tactic to weaken the MS and its rivals in the Pandilla 18 gang, jail sentences have been as ineffective as deportation.

Douglas Moreno, the recently-appointed head of the prison system, says the condition of the country's jails is totally unsatisfactory.

"The state has to look for solutions at once, not wait for them to appear by themselves," he said.

Part of the problem is the authorities' policy of dedicating certain prisons to one particular gang.

The idea is to avoid violence between rival groups, yet in practice it means the state has handed over control of the prisons to the gangs, argues Jeanette Aguilar, an expert on the topic at the University of Central America (UCA).

"The prisons have been the place where the gangs have moved towards institutionalising themselves. They have created criminal economic networks," she said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8119089.stm>

The pain of childbirth may have benefits on which women who opt for painkilling epidurals miss out, a senior male midwife has said.

Dr Denis Walsh, associate professor in midwifery at Nottingham University, said pain was a "rite of passage" which often helped regulate childbirth.

He said it helped strengthen a mother's bond with her baby, and prepared her for the responsibility of motherhood.

Dr Walsh, who wrote on the subject in the journal Evidence Based Midwifery, agreed that in some cases epidurals were very useful.

But he said epidural rates had been rising over the last 20 years, despite the fact that alternative, less invasive ways to manage pain in labour were available.

He said pain in labour was known to have positive physiological effects, such as helping to establish a rhythm to childbirth.

It also triggered the release of endorphins which helped women to adjust to pain.

Dr Walsh said epidurals were known to increase the risk that hormone treatment would be needed to boost contractions, and that devices such as forceps would be needed to complete the birth successfully.

He said: "I am concerned that if we increase epidural rates we do not know the long-term impacts of that."

But he warned that a culture had emerged where most hospitals effectively offered women epidurals on demand.

Official figures show the number of mothers receiving an epidural rose from 17% in 1989 to 1990 to 33% in 2007 to 2008.

A public inquiry into the death of an Iraqi civilian in British military custody six years ago has opened.

Baha Mousa, 26, died while being held by soldiers from the former Queen's Lancashire Regiment after his arrest at a Basra hotel with nine other Iraqis.

In 2007, a UK soldier was jailed for inhumane treatment and the Ministry of Defence has paid £2.8m in compensation.

The inquiry, led by Sir William Gage, is to focus on the death, detainees' treatment and British army methods.

The opening statement by Gerard Elias QC, counsel to the inquiry, is expected to take two weeks, and the entire inquiry about a year.

• The history of "conditioning" techniques, like hooding, used by UK troops while questioning prisoners from Northern Ireland in the early 1970s to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003

Mr Mousa was arrested at the Haitham Hotel in Basra, where he worked as a receptionist, on 14 September 2003.

British soldiers looking for weapons found assault rifles, pistols and suspected bomb-making equipment.

Hotel staff insisted the weapons were used for security but Mr Mousa and nine other Iraqi civilians were taken to a detention centre under suspicion of being insurgents.

Two days later Mr Mousa was dead. A post-mortem examination showed he suffered asphyxiation and had at least 93 injuries to his body, including fractured ribs and a broken nose.

After an initial investigation by the Royal Military Police, a six-month court martial followed with seven soldiers facing war crimes charges relating to Mr Mousa's death.

In April 2007, all but one were cleared on all counts at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire, but Cpl Donald Payne, 36, was jailed for a year and dismissed from the Army. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8146614.stm>

The Pakistani government has started to return home some of the two million people displaced by the conflict in the Swat valley.

The first convoy of buses carrying people from temporary camps began its journey on Monday.

The army reopened roads into the troubled district after an offensive to drive out Taliban militants there.

Some of the displaced have already returned. Correspondents say they are likely to rely on aid for many months.

The government has said its priority is to return those living in temporary camps.

Some witnesses in the area told the BBC that people were keen to return home because of the extreme heat they had to endure in the temporary camps.

"I'm going back home voluntarily and nobody forced me to leave," 50-year-old Shireenzada told the AFP news agency.

"But I'm really uncertain and don't know if peace has actually returned to my area."

SC sets oral arguments for poll automation deal

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court on Tuesday set the oral arguments for the petition to stop the implementation of the poll automation contract signed between the government and the consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM).

SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the court, in an en banc resolution, set the oral arguments on July 29 at 2 p.m.

The petition was filed by Concerned Citizens’ Movement, which said the joint venture of the Commission on Elections and Smartmatic/TIM is contrary to the provisions in Republic Act 9369, or the poll automation law.

Marquez said there is no need for the tribunal to issue an urgent temporary restraining order (TRO) but exhorted the parties, particularly the respondents, to “proceed with caution" in its dealings.

CCM, led by UP Law Professor Harry Roque, filed the petition last week hoping that the high court would stop the scheduled signing of the P7.2-billion contract by the Comelec and Smartmatic/TIM last Friday. The signing pushed through as scheduled.

“There is no need for a TRO. We will just wait after the oral arguments, and we’ll see if the Court finds the need to issue a stay order," Marquez said in a press briefing.

“The fact that the Court has not issued a TRO... it can be said that it’s with the belief that there’s no urgency to do that," he added.

The SC ordered Comelec, Smartmatic and TIM to file within 10 days their respective comments on the CCM petition.

Marquez said that during the oral arguments, the respondents would be asked about the reliability of the automated election system.

“They will not be there to argue but they will be asked to provide guidance on the technical aspects of the election process," he said.

The poll automation project almost went belly up after TIM, a Filipino company, backed out from the consortium due to differences over the implementation of the project. Its dispute with its partner was however ironed out. - GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/167372/SC-sets-oral-arguments-for-poll-automation-deal>

French youths set 317 cars on fire and wounded 13 police officers overnight during a series of riots on the eve of the Bastille Day holiday, police say.

Paris police said 240 people had been arrested, almost double the number held after unrest on the same day last year.

The injured officers are suffering from hearing difficulties caused by home-made explosives blowing up beside them.

Last week, the death of a young man in police custody caused three nights of riots in the southern town of Firminy.

Police said Mohamed Benmouna, a 21-year-old of Algerian origin, had died after trying to hang himself in a cell earlier in the week.

But his family refused to accept the explanation and subsequently filed a complaint to ask for a full investigation. On Friday, prosecutors ordered a second autopsy to "remove all doubt" in the case.

In 2005, rioting erupted across France after two teenagers died in a Paris suburb. Residents said they had been trying to flee from police.

Riots have become a regular occurrence at the start of Bastille Day, which commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris in 1789, the event regarded as the start of the French Revolution. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8149362.stm>

Munir (not his real name), an administrator in the Swat region of Pakistan, whose family fled the conflict there in early May, spent the last two months living in the outskirts of Mardan. After hearing positive stories from relatives and friends back home, he is now preparing to return to his village hoping for a new beginning.

We will go back to Swat very soon, probably in about 20 days. First we want to make sure it's safe. My father will go on his own in a couple of days to see how things are in our village.

We are already getting many reports from our villagers and friends back in Swat. Life is still difficult, but things are getting better.

We were told that 45 houses belonging to militants in our village have been destroyed. Our house, which is in the centre of the village, is apparently fine.

I spoke on the phone to someone from our village, who couldn't manage to escape because of the curfew. Because there were militants in our village his family moved to another one, not far from Mingora.

He told me that the peace committee, which is made up of local elders, is not distributing the aid donated by NGOs to the poor people. Instead it ends up in the hands of the families of the members.

When I spoke to my uncle a few days ago, he said that the biggest problem there is that it is very expensive. The prices of daily necessities are double compared to those in the rest of Pakistan. People are really struggling. Those are poor villagers, they don't have money. God knows how they survive and what they eat.

A villager from our area came last week to Mardan. He told me that there are some militants in that village and that the army is not taking action against them because there are many innocent people and they don't want to inflict casualties. Villagers are still not feeling secure because of the presence of militants.

I've got a friend who works for the police, he is now in Mingora. I bumped into him by chance a few days ago. He had come here to Mardan seven days ago to see his family and went back to Mingora two days later. We talked at length.

He said that the security situation had improved. The army there said that the only way they can defeat the militants is with the support of the ordinary people. So there's a lot less fear and people feel much more confident.

He told me that he went to Saidu Sharif one day. The army issued an invitation through loud speakers to residents to go to houses known to belong to militants and help themselves to anything useful they could find there. So people went and took all kinds of things - washing machines and other household items. In the end, the army destroyed those houses.

A different story: someone was arrested in Mingora, accused of being a militant. The army took him to his village and asked three local people to confirm whether he is indeed a militant. Three people confirmed. They shot him on the spot. People were very happy.

People are confident now and they have learnt a lot from their experiences. They know that they need to be more united against the militants. They won't allow the militants to return again.

They'll chase them out themselves, they'll shoot them, they won't wait for the army to do that. People will take revenge for all the bad things that have happened.

One militant commander was chased by the people here in Mardan. I witnessed the chase. He managed to escaped this time. But what I am saying is that people are taking things into their own hands.

In one year's time, many militants will be killed - not by the army, but by the people of Swat. The Taliban are defeated. They are not going to come back.

We are very confident. My family are already talking about arranging my wedding within one or two months after our return to Swat. I myself see a wedding in November. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8149504.stm>

A group of soldiers who took part in Israel's assault in Gaza say widespread abuses were committed against civilians under "permissive" rules of engagement.

The troops said they had been urged to fire on any building or person that seemed suspicious and said civilians were sometimes used as human shields.

Breaking the Silence, a campaign group made up of Israeli soldiers, gathered anonymous accounts from 26 soldiers.

"We were told soldiers were to be secured by fire-power. The soldiers were made to understand that their lives were the most important, and that there was no way our soldiers would get killed for the sake of leaving civilians the benefit of the doubt," said one soldier in the report.

"People were not instructed to shoot at everyone they see, but they were told that from a certain distance when they approach a house, no matter who it is - even an old woman - take them down," said another.

Many of the testimonies are in line with claims made by human-rights organisations that Israeli military action in Gaza was indiscriminate and disproportionate.

Amnesty International has accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during the 22-day conflict.

Israeli officials insist troops went to great lengths to protect civilians, that Hamas endangered non-combatants by firing from civilian areas and that homes and buildings were destroyed only when there was a specific military need to do so. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8149464.stm>

Two Israeli warships have sailed through the Suez Canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, Israeli and Egyptian officials say.

Israeli media described the passage of the two Saar class missile boats as a "message" to Iran.

Israel believes Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, something Iran denies.

Israeli officials say an Israeli submarine used the canal in June, returning on 5 July.

An Israeli official said deployment of the two ships was linked to the Israeli navy's "recent activities around the Red Sea".

Correspondents say that although Israel vessels regularly use the canal, the recent moves have - unusually - been publicised by the Israelis.

Shlomo Brom, of the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies, said: "I believe (the news) was likely leaked on purpose in order to signal to Iran that Israel has the capability of reaching them."

Israel has said repeatedly that it will not rule out the possibility of taking military action against Iran over the nuclear issue.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit told the BBC that warships had the right to use the canal provided they had no aggressive intent towards Egypt. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8150916.stm>

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has said his supporters have "the right to insurrection" in their bid to see him reinstated.

Mr Zelaya said Hondurans were within their rights to demonstrate, go on strike, or even rise up against the interim Honduran government.

He was addressing a news conference in Guatemala, alongside his left-leaning counterpart, Alvaro Colom.

Mr Zelaya was bundled out of Honduras on 28 June, but is widely recognised internationally as the legitimate president.

At his news conference in Guatemala, Mr Zelaya said: "Nobody owes allegiance to a usurper government that took power by arms, and the people have the right to insurrection and to oppose those measures."

The chief mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, earlier called the rival factions in Honduras to a new round of talks on Saturday to try to end the crisis.

The Costan Rican leader, a Nobel peace prize laureate, said: "My experience tells me that one has to be a little patient."

Thousands of people marched on Tuesday from the university to the US embassy in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, to urge Washington to do more to force the interim government headed by Roberto Micheletti to back down.

The crisis in Honduras erupted after Mr Zelaya tried to hold a non-binding public consultation on moves to change the constitution.

The new administration, which is backed by the military, insists that Mr Zelaya was ousted legally. It says he will not be reinstated.

Mr Zelaya's dramatic attempt to fly back to Honduras failed earlier this month when the military blocked the runway at Tegucigalpa airport. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8150940.stm>

Twelve people tortured, murdered and dumped alongside a mountain road in Mexico's Michoacan state were federal agents, officials say.

The bodies of the 11 men and one woman were found tied and blindfolded near the town of La Huacana on Monday.

Mexico's national security spokesman, Monte Alejandro Rubido, said they had been ambushed by a drugs cartel.

President Felipe Calderon has vowed to continue his war against drugs cartels, and not be intimidated by violence.

He said a wave of attacks on police was a desperate reaction from the gangs to the capture of some of their top leaders.

Michoacan has been hit by a wave of drug-related killings after a government crackdown on the cartels.

The killing of the federal agents is believed to have been a revenge attack for the arrest last Friday of the suspected drug boss Arnoldo Rueda Medina - described as a senior member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.

In addition, six police officers and two soldiers were killed in Michoacan and two other states, when gunmen attacked police stations and a hotel where federal agents were staying.

Michoacan, President Calderon's home state, has become one of the key battlegrounds in his war on drugs.

Mr Calderon has sent more than 45,000 troops across Mexico to fight rival drug gangs.

American troops are not to be banned from smoking in war zones, the US Defence Department says.

The decision comes despite a recent study which recommended the US military should be tobacco-free.

Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, said US troops were already making enough sacrifices in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, did not want to add to the stress of the troops by taking away their right to smoke.

But Mr Morrell said the Pentagon would examine the recent study to see what else could be done to move towards banning tobacco in the military.

He said: "Obviously it is not our preference to have a force that is using tobacco products."

A report commissioned by the US government said last week that the US military should be smoke-free in the next 20 years.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) said 30% of army personnel were smokers, leading to "very high" economic and health costs.

But it acknowledged that the change could be hard to introduce, as smoking had "long been associated with the image of a tough, fearless warrior".

The report, commissioned by the Pentagon and the US Veterans Affairs Department (VA), said the Pentagon spent more than $1.6bn (£1bn) every year on tobacco-related medical care, hospital treatment and lost days of work.

It said that rates of tobacco smoking in the military had increased since 1998, and may be as high as 50% among service personnel returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8153094.stm>

As the conflict between the Taliban and Pakistan's army in Swat drew to a close, the military shifted its focus to the tribal district of South Waziristan where it is currently targeting the Taliban strongholds to be found there. The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan meets residents fleeing the army's latest offensive.

In South Waziristan, Pakistan's security forces have a directive to "eliminate" the Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and his organisation.

And as the operation has got under way, the area has seen fierce aerial bombardment and artillery barrages on militant strongholds.

Many of these are located close to civilians areas and thousands of people have fled.

"I had to walk for seven hours with my family until I got transport out of the war zone," says Mohammad Usman.

Mr Usman is a resident of the South Waziristan town of Makeen. He and his family ran a prosperous fruit shop in the town's main market. They also owned some land which they cultivated.

But once the fighting started they had no option but to flee. There were eight of them altogether and they fled even as the bombs began to pound the area.

"After seven hours we reached Razmak from where we got transport to Miranshah and then onto Bannu.

"We then walked for three days from Miranshah to get to Dera Ismail Khan where we arrived on 16 May."

Pakistan's Supreme Court has acquitted opposition head Nawaz Sharif of hijacking charges, removing the final ban on him running for public office.

Mr Sharif was prime minister when he sacked then army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf. He was replaced in an army coup soon afterwards.

Mr Sharif was tried by the Sindh high court which found him guilty of hijacking Gen Musharraf's plane.

At least nine people, including some foreigners, have been killed in two bomb blasts at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say.

One explosion hit the Ritz-Carlton, ripping off its facade, and the other the Marriott Hotel. At least 48 people were injured.

Newly re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has visited the scene of the explosions.

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta says security is extremely tight around the two hotels, with ambulances streaming in every few minutes.

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key confirmed that a New Zealand national was among the dead.

Reuters news agency named him as Tim Mackay, president director of PT Holcim Indonesia, quoting the company's marketing director Patrick Walser.

There were reports of a third explosion in northern Jakarta a few hours later but it was not immediately clear what the cause was.

The Manchester United football team was due to arrive in Indonesia on Saturday and was booked to stay at the Ritz-Carlton. The blasts may raise doubts about the team's tour, PA news agency reported.

The first two blasts, in Jakarta's central business district, occurred at about 0730 (0030 GMT).

"I heard two sounds like 'boom, boom' coming from the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. Then I saw people running out," security guard Eko Susanto told AFP.

Businessman Geoffrey Head, who was in the Ritz Carlton, told the BBC he did not hear the blast but that his colleagues had called him after it happened to tell him to leave the building.

"I looked out of the window - I could see down to ground level and I saw there was a lot of broken glass. I thought it was time to actually get out."

"The surreal thing was going down in the elevator and walking through the lobby and looking across to my left and noticing the cafe was completely blown out," he said.

A device which blocks mobile phone signals has answered the prayers of some Kenyan Muslims.

Imams in Kenya have long complained that mobile phones constantly rang during prayers, disrupting services.

Imam Hassan Kithiye says he bought the machine in Dubai and it has been well received by his congregation.

A BBC correspondent in north-eastern Kenya says other mosques around Garissa town are now trying to raise enough funds to buy their own device.

One mosque has resorted to fining congregants $3 if their phones ring during a prayer service.

But this failed to solve the problem, imam Sheik Abbi-Azziz Mohamed told the BBC.

"We used to use that tyrant approach but it didn't work. Some people are so poor that they cannot even afford to buy airtime. We couldn't expect them to pay," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8155628.stm>

The new high security US military courtroom at Guantanamo has had its share of problems: microphones not working, mistranslations by court interpreters and a few failed video links to the outside world.

But it is nothing compared to the chaos that surrounded what was supposed to be the latest appearance of the five men accused of plotting the attacks on 11 September 2001.

None of them showed up - at least for the start. The US military judge was informed that they were boycotting the proceedings.

A row then followed between members of the prosecution, who argued that at least some should be brought to the court by "all necessary means", and members of the defence team, who argued that their clients were being harassed and should not be subjected to a "forced cell extraction".

In the end three of them did appear, though it soon became two. Mustafa al-Hawsawi asked to leave as soon as he was told that he would not be allowed to speak.

He casually waved goodbye to his co-accused while being escorted to the exit surrounded by uniformed guards. His defence lawyer - Major Jon Jackson - argued that his client had been tricked into coming with promises that he would be permitted to talk.

The no-show by the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - was perhaps the biggest surprise.

In the past he has appeared to be the ringleader from whom the others take their cue. But even locked in his cell perhaps he was still orchestrating proceedings and trying to make a mockery of US military justice.

Only Ramzi Binalshibh - sometimes described as the 20th hijacker (one of a number who claim that title) - followed his example by staying away.

The hearing was supposed to focus on questions about the mental capacity of two of the accused - Ramzi Binalshibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

Neither so far has been allowed to represent themselves in court - and much to their obvious annoyance they are having to rely on the defence of US military lawyers.

Those lawyers tried to make their arguments. But whenever they went into any detail their microphones were cut off.

Mr Binalshibh's defence lawyer, Commander Suzanne Lachelier, explained how her client suffered from a "delusional disorder". The court heard how he believed that camp guards were trying to pump noxious fumes into his cell.

Cdr Lachelier started to explain how sleep deprivation had affected his health - but that is about all we heard before her microphone went dead. She was discussing "classified" information and reluctantly agreed to comply with what she called the "gagging" order.

Later in the afternoon a whole session was held behind closed doors without a journalist in sight to discuss more "classified" information.

The fact that two of the five did not even leave their cell showed the defendants' contempt for the court. But that was underlined by the actions of the few who bothered to attend.

Walid Bin Attash summed it up when he playfully threw a paper plane (presumably made out of court documents) at his co-accused when the proceedings were drawing to a close. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8155828.stm>

Bermuda, with its pastel-coloured homes overlooking the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean, is now home to four Chinese Uighurs who were released from Guantanamo Bay after seven years inside.

The men are a long way from home, but they say they had heard of Bermuda, a UK overseas territory off America's eastern seaboard, before they got there.

"Actually I did know something about Bermuda, about the Bermuda Triangle. When I first heard we were coming here I thought, that's that mysterious place," said Khalil Mamut.

When I met Khalil Mamut, 31, Abdullah Abdulqadir, 30, Salahidin Abdulahat, 32, and Ablikim Turahan, 38, in their new home, they were all smiling, laughing and joking with one another.

As they ordered Bermudan fruit punch and rock fish, it became clear that they were relishing their new-found freedom.

"I saw someone fishing and I walked down, and said 'I want to do that. Can I have a go?' He said OK, and in one minute I caught two small fish.

"The fish reminded me of Guantanamo - I had mercy on them and let them go," said Khalil Mamut.

This is exactly how these men used to see themselves, as small fish caught in a huge net as the US military rounded up terror suspects in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan after 9/11.

Mr Mamut says the four men had initially fled their homes in China because they wanted to escape oppression and lead free lives.

Recent ethnic violence in Xinjiang province has focused attention on the Muslim minority and their efforts to establish a Uighur homeland, which they call Turkestan.

The men's separate journeys from China in early 2001 led them to meet in a refugee camp in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains.

"When I was in Turkestan, I made rock candy, but the Chinese oppressed us so I left to seek freedom," Khalil Mamut says.

"If I had stayed there I could have been a slave to the Chinese and I didn't want to be slave."

"The town we came to gave us a warm welcome and told us to rest and they would take care of us," says Salahidin Abdulahat.

"In the middle of the night they got us up and said they would move us somewhere safe. But we ended up in jail. They sold us out."

The men say they were handed over by bounty hunters as "terrorists" to US forces and taken to Khandahar.

They were then transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where they were held in the military detention centre for almost seven years.

A petite woman with expressive eyes, she now calls these men "her children" but their relationship started very differently.

Ms Abbas, a Uighur living in the US, was hired as a translator by US interrogators at Guantanamo.

"During the first interrogation I was totally surprised. These men were so happy to be in US custody, they were saying that US is the only country defending Uighur people's rights," she says.

"After I met these men I realised right away that they were the wrong men to be in Guantanamo."

The men were accused by the US of being linked to the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, a group which the UN, China and the US classify as a terrorist group with links to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

All four men always denied the charge, and four years ago were found not to be "enemy combatants". However, their release was complicated by their nationality.

"When US forces took custody of us they did not know us so they had to do their investigation," says Salahidin Abdulahat.

"They soon said they knew we were innocent but because we didn't have our own country it was more difficult."

Last October, a senior US judge in Washington DC ordered that all the men be released into the US. That ruling was quashed in February and they remained in Guantanamo, because it was considered unsafe for them to return to China and no country was willing to take them.

The US has 50 to 60 Guantanamo detainees who it has been unable to repatriate since President Barack Obama announced the camp was to close.

However on the evening on 10 June, a guard came and told them they had 45 minutes to get ready to leave.

Britain voiced its disapproval and told Bermuda, a UK territory, that it should have consulted the UK government before accepting the men.

Bermudan Premier Ewart Brown explains how the decision came about: "One of the White House people raised this issue, that they were having trouble finding places to accept these detainees, and I said, 'I wonder if Bermuda could help'."

Questions have been asked about what Bermuda gained from the deal, and whether it would help the country's position with the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which the US Senate is debating.

"I don't want to predict that, but I believe that whatever engagements we have with the US from here on will be held in the context that we have helped the US at the time when they needed help," says Premier Brown.

The US authorities are paying up to $100,000 (£62,000) for the men's relocation costs.

Over the next few months they will be taught English and they will go fishing and learn to swim. Nearly a dozen local companies have already offered the men jobs.

These men have been on a long journey, but they are not angry or bitter about the years spent locked up in Guantanamo.

They all say they are happy and grateful to Bermuda and its people for giving them a home.

"I have to get situated and everything will be OK step by step. I have to get money and buy house and furniture - I have to ready myself for everything, a family, a wife, a new life."

Despite the tropical location, for these men paradise is not warm azure waters and swaying palm trees. Paradise is the freedom they now share. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8147317.stm>

In the world of intelligence gathering the past never really goes away - it stays around to haunt the present and set traps for the future.

The issue of how America conducted its "war on terror" - who it tortured and detained and on whose orders - is full of such traps.

We know that Barack Obama knows this - he talks about the need to move forward rather than to look back - but that is no guarantee that he will be able to resist calls for some sort of investigation of the Bush administration's intelligence policies.

The argument from the human rights lobby and the left of the Democratic Party appears to have gained ground in Washington in the last week or so - some sort of enquiry is now necessary, they believe, to re-assert the rule of law and restore America to the moral high ground of international diplomacy.

The case against re-opening the wounds of the recent past lacks moral clarity, perhaps, but it is no less passionately held among Republicans.

Washing too much dirty linen in public too quickly, they point out, might compromise ongoing counter-terrorism operations, embarrass some of America's loyal allies and even risk alienating some intelligence professionals who carried out orders under President George W Bush and who continue to do so under Barack Obama.

You could perhaps mount an enquiry into a single incident - like the allegation that America's ally General Abdul Rashid Dostum may have murdered Taliban prisoners in 2001 - without creating too much domestic political fallout.

Stories about intelligence issues in all media outlets - and this one is no exception - are frequently confused and confusing.

That is natural enough - very often such facts as we know have been put into the public domain by intelligence officials with axes to grind and there is no way to verify them.

So it makes sense to start with the politics of what is going on in Washington - at least there the motives of all concerned are easy enough to unpick.

So, for example, there are Democrats, led by Senator Patrick Leahy, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who would like to see a commission of enquiry into allegations of CIA involvement in the torture of terrorism suspects.

At the same time, Attorney-General Eric Holder has let it be known that he is considering appointing a special prosecutor to look into those allegations, too.

You could take the Machiavellian view that Mr Holder has been put forward by the administration to make it look as though it is considering re-opening this huge seething can of worms and that in the end the White House will quietly shelve the whole affair.

But either way, it has to be acknowledged at the moment that the push from the left for something to be done is huge.

First, any sort of enquiry will suck the air out of Washington politics and make it very difficult for Mr Obama to continue his search for the elusive spirit of bi-partisanship on tricky issues like healthcare reform.

And second, in a country where power tends to alternate between parties of the right and left, one sure way to guarantee inquiries into Democratic administrations of the future is to stage one into a Republican administration of the past.

There is a strong view in some quarters on the left that in its reaction to the terror attacks on 9/11, the Bush administration strayed far outside the law and the constitution it should have been upholding.

In this version of the recent past, the former Vice-President Dick Cheney is portrayed as a figure of grim malevolence, conjuring and orchestrating the forces of darkness behind the throne.

Part of the Democrats' motivation is to hold Mr Cheney accountable for his actions - or in plain English, to "get him".

So, not surprisingly, Mr Cheney is also a central figure in the other strand of an increasingly complex web of allegations - this time about the relationship between Congress and the CIA.

The charge against Mr Cheney is that he instructed senior CIA officers to conceal from Congress the existence of a secret operation, set up after 9/11.

American law does arguably provide for such concealment - although only temporarily and in the most exceptional circumstances.

Essentially, though, the intelligence agencies are fully accountable to Congress and any deviation from that accountability would be hugely sensitive.

Democrats say they only found out about the operation when its existence was disclosed last month to the new director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, who immediately closed it down and came to Capitol Hill to brief them.

They say this is important mainly because the CIA's accountability to Congress appears to have been compromised.

One possible solution being mooted is to increase from eight to 40 or 50 the number of senior members of the House who are routinely briefed on such matters.

Republicans sense this may all be some kind of smokescreen to protect the Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has yet to provide a full explanation of her own claim that the CIA directly lied to her about the use of waterboarding in the early years of the "war on terror".

That claim had the effect of deflecting claims that Speaker Pelosi had known all about the practice of waterboarding which she later said she deplored.

From the Democrats' point of view, making the issue a general one about the relationship between Congress and the CIA tends to deflect attention from Speaker Pelosi.

Well, that is the whole question of the extent to which - if at all - the energies of the Obama years should be spent staging investigations - and perhaps prosecutions - based on American actions during the administration of George W Bush.

He has to weigh the need to remain true to his grassroots supporters (and perhaps his own instincts) against the dangers of alienating the intelligence establishment and poisoning the political atmosphere in Washington.

We know him on such issues to be cautious and pragmatic - his decision on this delicate issue will tell us a good deal more about his political judgement. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8148928.stm>

Four members of a group of ultra-orthodox Jews opposed to the existence of Israel have visited Hamas in Gaza.

The men, clad in the traditional ultra-orthodox garb of black hats and coats and with long side-curls in their hair, met Hamas leader Ismail Haniya.

The Neturei Karta believe that a Jewish state can only be established by the Messiah and thus denounce Israel as heretic and embrace its enemies.

"We feel your suffering, we cry your cry," the Associated Press quoted Rabbi Yisroel Weiss as saying.

"It is your land, it is occupied, illegitimately and unjustly by people who stole it, kidnapped the name of Judaism and our identity."

The representatives entered Gaza, which is under a strict Israeli embargo, with a convoy of activists who travelled through Egypt.

Neturei Karta, Aramaic for "Guardians of the City" was founded some 70 years ago in Jerusalem.

Estimates of the group's size range from a few hundred to a few thousand - some in Israel, others in the UK and US.

Members have praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying Israel should be erased from the pages of history - sometimes translated as "wiped off the map".

They have also attended a Holocaust denial conference in Tehran and held a prayer vigil for the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as he lay on his death bed.

Mr Haniya described the men as "heroes", according to Palestinian media reports.

"Our problem is with the occupation, that stems from the Zionist ideology and its desire to disperse all the Palestinians," he said.

"Those religious figures that express their objection to the siege, the aggression and the crimes - we can't help but respect them and for their beliefs and their culture."

Israel and most Western countries regard Hamas as a terrorist group and refuse to deal directly with it.

The movement is sworn to the destruction of Israel in its charter and backs attacks on Israeli civilians, although has offered a long-term ceasefire in exchange for a Palestinian state on the full territory of the West Bank and Gaza. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8155350.stm>

Scuba divers off the Californian city of San Diego are being menaced by large numbers of jumbo squid.

The beaked Humboldt squid, which grow up to 5ft (1.5 metres) long, arrived off the city's shores last week.

Divers have reported unnerving encounters with the creatures, which are carnivorous and can be aggressive.

One diver described how one of the rust-coloured creatures ripped the buoyancy aid and light from her chest, and grabbed her with its tentacles.

"I just kicked like crazy," diver Shanda Magill told the Associated Press news agency.

"The first thing you think of is: 'Oh my gosh, I don't know if I'm going to survive this.' If that squid wanted to hurt me, it would have."

The creatures - also known as jumbo flying squid - do not affect swimmers because they remain deeper in the water.

"The ones that we are getting right now have a big beak on them, like a large parrot beak," San Diego's Union-Tribune quoted John Hyde of the National Marine Fisheries Service as saying earlier in the week.

Diver and amateur underwater cameraman Roger Uzun said he swam with a group of squid for about 20 minutes.

They seemed curious about him, he said, and appeared to be touching him and his wetsuit with their tentacles to see if he was edible.

"As soon as we went underwater and turned on the video lights, there they were. They would ram into you, they kept hitting the back of my head," he told AP.

It is not the first time the squid, which can weigh up to 45kg (7 stone), have taken up residence off California's coast.

In January 2005 hundreds of them washed up off the coast of Orange County, to the north, and in 2002 a similar invasion was reported near San Diego.

Scientists say they do not know why the squid - which usually live in deep waters further south off Mexico and Central America - have come so close in.

But one expert, Nigella Hillgarth of the San Diego-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told AP it was possible that the squid had established a year-round population off California. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8155417.stm>

An ultra-orthodox woman whose arrest on suspicion of starving her child sparked violent protests is to be freed into the custody of a Jerusalem rabbi.

Agreement to the move by a court and religious leaders aims to end clashes between orthodox Jews and police.

The detention of the woman, said to suffer from mental illness, had enraged the orthodox community.

But they are also angry at what they see as continuing interference by Israeli authorities in their community.

Some 18 police officers were injured in clashes overnight on Thursday and into Friday morning, police said.

Dustbins were set on fire and stones hurled as protesters confronted police in two ultra-orthodox neighbourhoods, Mea Shearim and Bar-Ilan.

Israeli media reported that the city's magistrate court agreed to release the woman into the custody of a local rabbi, on a bail of 400,000 shekels ($100,000).

She is required to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and other medical tests, the Jerusalem Post reports.

The mother is accused of deliberately depriving her three-year old son of food. He is now in hospital.

A hospital spokeswoman, Yael Bossem-Levy, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying the woman had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a condition in which a person mimics or induces illness in another.

"We don't have weapons, we don't have tanks, we don't have policemen or jails," a spokesman for the protesters told Israeli Army radio.

"But we are sending in our army to save a family, to save a Jewish mother who is raising five children with love and warmth," Shmuel Pappenheim said.

But these riots are not just about the arrest of a religious woman, our correspondent says.

They are the angry expression of ongoing tensions between the orthodox community, which makes up about a third of Jerusalem's population, and the secular city mayor, she adds.

Many secular Israelis accuse the ultra-orthodox of anti-social behaviour - not just during riots.

Some see them as taking public handouts to support large families while avoiding paying taxes, dodging military service, and not even recognising the state of Israel.

Ultra-orthodox members have been protesting for several weeks over plans by the mayor to open a car park near the religiously sensitive Old City area on Saturdays, when orthodox Jews abstain from work. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8156239.stm>

A videotape that appears to link Colombia's Marxist rebels the Farc to the president of neighbouring Ecuador has been broadcast on Colombian TV.

The video allegedly shows a rebel commander claiming they helped fund the 2006 election of Ecuador's left-wing president, Rafael Correa.

The two countries severed relations last year after Colombian troops raided a rebel base across the border.

Ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya has said he will return to the country whether or not a deal is reached to end the political crisis.

Mr Zelaya's wife said midnight on Saturday was the deadline for a deal to be reached at talks in Costa Rica between the country's political rivals.

Earlier, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had said Mr Zelaya was due to return home "in the coming hours".

Representatives of Mr Zelaya and the interim government that was appointed after he was ousted in a coup last month are preparing to meet for a fresh round of talks in Costa Rica, mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

Mr Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro, said that midnight on Saturday was "the deadline" for an agreement on the country's future to be reached.

She added that the conditions were right for her husband's return and the talks "can't continue for three or four months".

"He has to come back to the country. He has to come publicly. He is not a criminal and does not need to be hiding," she said.

Obama urged to take up alleged torture of Fil-Am with Arroyo

CHICAGO – Instead of bringing 100 Filipino congressmen to her audience with US President Barack Obama on July 30, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo might be better off having her defense secretary in the entourage.

The lawyer of Filipino-American Melissa Roxas, who claimed that she was abducted by Philippine military soldiers last May, wrote President Obama on July 15 asking him to bring the case to the attention of Mrs. Arroyo during their meeting in Washington, D.C.

Roxas, a US citizen residing in Los Angeles, claimed that she was taken and tortured by suspected military agents while she was on a medical mission in Tarlac.

Lawyer Arnedo S. Valera filed a complaint on July 1 against the Philippine government on the abduction and torture of Roxas before US Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton. This time, he is seeking to take advantage of Mrs. Arroyo’s visit to bring the case to the attention of both presidents.

In his letter to Obama, Valera said: “Ms. Roxas is the first known American citizen under the new administration of your presidency who has been subject to torture and degrading treatment in the Philippines, a close ally of and receiving military aid from the US government."

The lawyer informed Obama that Roxas, who is also a poet, visited the Philippine to volunteer as a health care worker and gather materials for a writing project.

Valera requested the American leader to urge the US State Department to conduct an investigation of the Philippine government’s possible culpability in the case of Roxas.

In a press conference in Los Angeles last month, Roxas said she was conducting a community survey when she was forcibly abducted by 15 armed men in La Paz, Tarlac on May 19.

She said she was released six days later after being subjected to physical and mental torture during her captivity in a suspected military camp.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) leadership has denied ordering anyone to abduct Roxas, an activist affiliated with the US chapter of the Philippine militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or Bayan. - GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/167507/Obama-urged-to-take-up-alleged-torture-of-Fil-Am-with-Arroyo>

There appear to be growing tensions between the US military and Iraqi security forces.

They have arisen over cooperation and the restrictions imposed on the movement of American forces in urban areas inside Iraq.

But reports suggest US commanders have been surprised and frustrated by the new rules, suggesting they could endanger the safety of their troops.

The agreement has been in place since American troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq's towns and cities.

A spokesman for the Iraqi defence ministry told the BBC there had been no joint US-Iraqi patrols in urban areas since 13 June.

According to an agreement signed between the two sides, US forces are not allowed to enter Iraq's towns and cities unless specifically requested to do so by the Iraqi authorities, except in cases of self defence.

The spokesman said the ministry adhered to a strict interpretation of these new rules, but some in the American military appear to take a different view.

The Washington Post newspaper quotes what it says is an email written by the commander of the US forces' Baghdad division saying his troops would continue to engage in operations inside urban areas to avert, or respond to, threats whether or not they were supported by the Iraqis.

The report suggests that US military figures did not expect the new rules to be implemented so literally, and for a limited number of joint patrols to continue following the withdrawal.

The Iraqi government has been keen to demonstrate that it is now capable of providing security without American support.

A US military review is to recommend an overhaul of the entire Afghan prison and judicial systems, the New York Times reports.

It says the report, drawn up by a senior marine commander, highlights concerns about recruitment by the Taliban within local prisons.

The paper says the review, which has not yet been released, also recommends reform of the US-run Bagram air base.

The BBC spoke to 27 ex-inmates around the country over two months, most of whom alleged they had been beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with dogs at Bagram.

Prisoners in Bagram are currently refusing privileges available to them in a protest about their basic rights.

The review was conducted by US marine commander Maj Gen Douglas M Stone. He is widely credited with transforming American detention practices in Iraq.

The New York Times reports that his key recommendation is that militants should be separated from more moderate detainees - who may typically be held on charges unrelated to militancy.

Under the proposals, the US could help fund and construct an Afghan-run prison to hold extremists.

The review also reportedly recommends that the remaining prisoners should be taught vocational skills and classes in moderate Islam, to help re-integrate them into society.

It also makes the case for more training for new Afghan prison guards, prosecutors and judges.

President Obama has said that the US is examining an alleged massacre of hundreds of prisoners who had surrendered to a US-backed warlord in Afghanistan in 2001.

The allegations first surfaced in 2002 but there has been no formal investigation.

Afghanistan is a renewed priority with the US administration, with concerns running high about the resurgence of the Taliban, correspondents say.

Honduras's interim government has rejected a proposal to solve the country's political crisis, in effect ending talks with the ousted president.

The delegation's head said Costa Rica's proposal, which would see Manuel Zelaya return as leader of a unity government, was "absolutely unacceptable".

Mr Zelaya's representatives said they would no longer negotiate with the interim leaders' current delegation.

"It was not possible to reach a satisfactory agreement," said President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, who is leading mediations and has presented both parties with a seven-point proposal.

"The Zelaya delegation fully accepted my proposal, but not that of Don Roberto Micheletti."

Mr Arias has warned of possible civil war if the talks fail and urged both sides to continue.

"My conscience tells me that I cannot give up and must continue working for at least three more days and that is what I propose to do," he said.

Mr Zelaya, who is currently in Nicaragua, said one "must never close the door on actions of good faith" but that he doubted the mediators could achieve much.

"I do not think that efforts with coup-mongers, just as with terrorists and kidnappers, will work," he told Reuters news agency.

He later said his supporters were "organising internal resistance" in preparation for this return to the country, which he indicated could happen at the weekend.

CHR to secure Fil-Am activist while in RP

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will secure Filipino- American activist Melissa Roxas upon her return to the country from the United States.

CHR chairperson Leila de Lima said Roxas’ camp does not trust any state agents, including the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines, to secure her during her stay.

"Magbibigay ang CHR ng protective custody kasi yan ang pinaka-concern niya at ng kanyang mga magulang na ayaw nga siyang payagang bumalik sa Pilipinas. Siguro kahit di niya magulang matatakot pagkatapos ng ganoong ordeal," De Lima said in an interview on dzRH radio.

[She will be placed under the CHR’s protective custody. That is her biggest concern and her parents are reluctant to let her return to the country. Any parent would be traumatized over their child’s ordeal.]

De Lima did not give details of the security arrangements for Roxas, who is due to arrive in the country Monday. She would only say the arrangements do not involve “Philippine state agents."

Roxas had accused military operatives of abducting her in La Paz town in Tarlac province last May 19. She was released one week later, when militants raised a howl over her abduction.

The CHR is investigating the abduction and alleged torture of Roxas, and at least two other activists last May.

Roxas is due to testify on her ordeal on July 23, De Lima said.

"Iba ang mapakikinggan mismo galing sa bibig niya at makikita natin sa demeanor niya ang kanyang credibility. Kung ibabase mo sa sworn statement niya na submitted sa CA, talagang full of details...mahirap naman paniwalaan na publicly fed lang ang istoryang yan. Yan ang naging depensa ng military noong una - fake lang daw ang abduction and torture," De Lima said.

[It will be a different thing to see Roxas personally testifying on her ordeal. Here we can assess her credibility. Besides, her sworn statement to the Court of Appeals had several details that could not have been just made up. Roxas will have the chance to refute the military’s defense that her claim of abduction was just a tall tale.] <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/167776/CHR-to-secure-Fil-Am-activist-while-in-RP>

PDEA chief vows Mexico-style war against drug syndicates

MANILA, Philippines - Outraged over the reported abduction and rape of an anti-drug operative’s daughter, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) vowed Monday a fierce “Mexican Drug War" against drug syndicates.

PDEA chief Dionisio Santiago said in a radio interview that he is not afraid to raise the stakes in the fight against illegal drugs, now that drug rings have seemingly drawn “first blood."

Death penalty for drug lords pushed

The reported abduction and rape of an anti-drug agent's daughter over the weekend have triggered moves in the House of Representatives to prioritize the passage of legislation seeking to revive death penalty in the country for illegal drug traffickers.

House Speaker Prospero Nograles said he is now inclined to support the revival of capital punishment for certain law violators following the spate of bombings in Mindanao and the recent attack on an anti-drug agent's daughter.

"[With] the brutal attacks against innocent civilians including children, I'm now inclined as Speaker to support the possible re-imposition of death penalty against narco-traffickers and terror bombers," he said in a text message to reporters. Read more

“Parang magiging Mexico tayo niyan, bakbakan tayo, unahan ng ubusan. Nang pumasok kami sa trabahong ito pati pamilya namin sinusugal namin. Hindi kami papayag. Ang buhay iisa lang. ‘Di namin papayagang unahan kami ng mga gago," Santiago said in an interview on dzXL radio.

[If this is going to be like Mexico, so be it. We’ll fight them to the finish. When we got into this line of work, we knew we were also risking the lives of our families. We won’t allow those scoundrels to beat us.]

The Mexican Drug War involves a conflict between rival drug cartels and government forces in Mexico.

Government crackdowns led to the arrest of high-level figures in the drug trade, but violent power struggles erupt in cartels over who will take their place.

A national daily cited a Los Angeles Times article saying that nearly 10,000 drug traffickers, state agents and civilians have been killed in drug war-related incidents in Mexico since 2007 .

"Kawawa ang bayan natin kung magpe-prevail ang mga siraulo. Ipaglalaban namin ang future ng bayan [The country will be pitiful if these crazies prevail. We will fight for the nation’s future]," Santiago said.

In the meantime, Santiago said he is verifying the identity of the anti-drug agent whose daughter was abducted and raped. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/167777/PDEA-chief-vows-Mexico-style-war-against-drug-syndicates>

Nato head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has warned that walking away from the alliance's mission in Afghanistan would have a "devastating" effect.

Speaking in London, the Nato secretary-general said failure would give free run to al-Qaeda.

His comments come as Afghanistan suffers a spike in violence ahead of elections on 20 August.

More foreign troops have been killed in July than in any other month since the US-led invasion in 2001.

In a speech at a think tank, Mr de Hoop Scheffer said Nato allies could not afford to abandon their campaign.

"If we were to walk away, Afghanistan would fall to the Taliban, with devastating effect for the people there - women in particular," he said.

"Pakistan would suffer the consequences, with all that that implies for international security," he said.

"Central Asia would see extremism spread. Al-Qaeda would have a free run again, and their terrorist ambitions are global."

He said Nato members had to realise that the mission was "essential" to their security.

"As much as we may long for the near-perfect security of Cold War deterrence, we must accept that security today requires engagement in far away places - engagement that is dangerous, expensive, open ended, and with no guarantee of success."

Earlier on Monday, the Nato-led force in Afghanistan announced the deaths of four US soldiers in the east of the country.

Seventeen of those are from the UK, where the rising toll has sparked debate over the country's participation in the Nato-led mission.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer, who met UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier on Monday, acknowledged the sacrifices being made by soldiers from the UK and other allies.

The former President of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, has been given a seven-and-a-half-year jail term for corruption.

The 70-year-old was convicted by Peru's Supreme Court of giving $15m (£9.3m) in state funds to his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

The sentence is the third handed down against Fujimori, who ruled Peru from 1990 to 2000, since he returned from exile in late 2007 to face charges.

Last April, he was sentenced to 25 years in jail for ordering killings and kidnappings by the security forces.

Fujimori was already serving a six-year term after being found guilty in 2007 on separate charges of abuse of power.

The prosecution claimed that Fujimori illegally channelled huge sums to Vladimiro Montesinos.

The multi-million dollar payment was allegedly made just two months before corruption accusations in late 2000 abruptly ended Fujimori's 10 years in power.

Montesinos, who is currently in prison convicted of several charges including corruption and embezzlement, was at the centre of the scandal which erupted after videos emerged showing him bribing opposition politicians and media magnates.

Fujimori had told the court the payment was not illegal because he had later reimbursed the state.

"I express my partial and relative conformity with the charges... I only acknowledge the facts, I don't accept the criminal responsibility, the punishment or the civil reparations," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8160150.stm>

Police: No abduction, no rape of anti-drug agent’s daughter

MANILA, Philippines - Was she really abducted and raped, or did a daughter of an anti-drug operative just had a drinking spree with friends last weekend?

The supposed abduction drew outrage Monday from officials of anti-narcotics agency and of public officials, but the Cordillera Autonomous Region Police, citing testimonies by the girl’s acquaintances, said Tuesday the girl was neither abducted nor raped.

"If we base [sa] testimony ng kasama ng teenager, walang abduction, walang rape at saka yun po walang sinabing sinaksakan ng droga [If we base our findings on the testimonies of the teenagers seen with her before she was supposedly kidnapped, there was no abduction and no rape, and she was not forced to take drugs]," Cordillera regional police head Chief Superintendent Orlando Pestaño said in an interview on dzXL radio.

On Monday, a national broadsheet’s banner story said the girl was abducted and raped, triggering outrage among government officials.

While Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) head Dionisio Santiago vowed a Mexico-style war against drug rings, lawmakers found reason to push harder moves to revive capital punishment for drug traffickers.

But Pestaño said that even if there was no abduction or rape, this does not mean the government should take back its all-out war against drugs.

"Wala namang masama roon if (tuluy-tuloy na ipatutupad ang) total war ... we in the law enforcement agencies gusto ang masinsinang kampanya laban sa drugs. Pero yung basehan ng incident na yan, we’re just very objective about it, yan ang tinitignan natin," he said.

[We see nothing wrong with a total war on drugs. We in the law enforcement agencies want a total campaign against drugs. It’s just that we are very objective about this particular incident.]

Pestaño said a reconstruction of events based on the regional police’s findings showed the girl knocked off school after finishing a make-up class at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Some friends fetched her and they had a drinking spree at the house of another friend.

"Mga bandang 7 p.m., nalasing ang dalagita. At pagka lasing, di nila ma-control dahil patumba-tumba sa sala set, patayo, parang… walang control sa sarili niya, so they decided to bring her home [At about 7 p.m. the girl got drunk. When she could not control herself and repeatedly collapsed, her friends decided to bring her home]," Pestaño said.

"Samakatuwid if we base all the facts sa salaysay ng 4 [na] teenager na kasama niya roon wala talagang kidnapping, walang rape [If we base our findings on these, there was no kidnapping or rape]," he added.

He said the local Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency office had requested the girl’s parents for the girl to undergo drug test procedure. - GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/167838/Police-No-abduction-no-rape-of-anti-drug-agents-daughter>

Several people have been killed in a series of attacks by Taleban militants in eastern Afghanistan.

A group of gunmen and suicide bombers attacked three key sites, including the governor's compound, in the city of Gardez, killing at least four people.

In Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan, two militants and one policeman were killed, officials said.

The attacks come amid a spike of violence in the country ahead of elections on 20 August.

In Gardez, the militants attacked the police chief's office and a police station, as well as the governor's compound, a local official told the BBC.

"I was at my shop and I suddenly heard a loud explosion and then gunshots. I saw fire being exchanged between the police and attackers," the trader told the BBC.

An Afghan doctor at the hospital in Gardez said he had received four bodies, all of military personnel. Other reports suggested several militants were also killed in the attacks.

Reports said that at least two of the attackers were wearing women's head-to-toe burkhas.

Taliban militants have carried out similar co-ordinated attacks on provincial cities in recent months.

In May, six people were killed when militants launched simultaneous attacks on government buildings in the city of Khost in eastern Afghanistan.

In Jalalabad, a spokesman for the governor said two militants were killed when they tried to gain access to the airport - a base for Afghan and foreign troops.

Earlier, a British soldier was killed in an explosion in Helmand province in the south of the country.

He was the 18th British soldier to be killed in Afghanistan this month. The death of four US troops was announced on Monday.

On Monday Nato head Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned that walking away from the war would have a "devastating" effect, allowing extremism to overwhelm Afghanistan and spread further into Pakistan and Central Asia.

The fight in Afghanistan, he said, was essential to the security of Nato members.

The detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers - including archers who served with Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt - have gone online.

The database of those who fought in the Hundred Years War reveals salaries, sickness records and who was knighted.

The full profiles of soldiers from 1369 to 1453 will allow researchers to piece together details of their lives.

Thomas, Lord Despenser is the youngest soldier on the database, whose career began when he was aged just 12 in 1385.

Elsewhere, the career of Thomas Gloucestre, who fought at Agincourt, can be traced over 43 years and includes campaigns in Prussia and Jerusalem.

The website is the product of a research project by Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton and Dr Adrian Bell of the University of Reading.

Dr Bell said: "The service records survive because the English exchequer had a very modern obsession with wanting to be sure that the government's money was being spent as intended.

"Therefore we have the remarkable survival of indentures for service detailing the forces to be raised, muster rolls showing this service and naming every soldier from duke to archer."

He said accounts from captains showing how funds were spent and entries detailing when the exchequer requested the payments can be found.

People in Asia are watching what will be the longest total solar eclipse this century, with large areas of India and China plunged into darkness.

Amateur stargazers and scientists have travelled far to see the eclipse, which lasts for about five minutes.

The eclipse could first be seen early on Wednesday in eastern India, though in some regions there was thick cloud.

It has been moving east across India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and the Pacific.

The eclipse first became total over India at 0053GMT. It will cross some southern Japanese islands and will last be visible from land at Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati. It will end at 0418GMT.

In India, millions gathered in open spaces from the West coast to the northern plains, with clouds parting in some cities at dawn - just before the total eclipse.

"We were apprehensive of this cloudy weather but it was still a unique experience with morning turning into night for more than three minutes," scientist Amitabh Pande told the Associated Press news agency.

In India and Nepal, where it is considered auspicious to watch the eclipse while immersed in holy water, crowds gathered at rivers or ponds, including tens of thousands of people at Varanasi on the Ganges.

"We have come here because our elders told us this is the best time to improve our after-life," said Bhailal Sharma, a villager who had travelled to Varanasi from central India.

Some parents in New Delhi kept their children from attending school at breakfast because of a Hindu belief that it is inauspicious to prepare food during an eclipse, while pregnant women were advised to stay inside due to a belief that the eclipse could harm a foetus.

"My mother and aunts have called and told me stay in a darkened room with the curtains closed, lie in bed and chant prayers," said Krati Jain, a software worker in New Delhi who is expecting her first child.

Authorities in China, where an eclipse was a bad omen in ancient culture, have been reassuring the public that services will run normally.

In the east of the country, heavy cloud or rain was expected to make it virtually impossible to see the eclipse, while pollution over big cities posed another potential obstacle. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8161578.stm>

The rise of Pakistan's 'civilian dictators'

Retired Pakistani army Maj Tahir Sadik will leave office as the elected "Nazim", mayor of Attock, with mixed feelings in October.

Remembering the thousands of small issues he had dealt with, the grievances heard, the arguments settled, he added rather quietly, "they even pray for us".

He could not stand again as he has served the maximum two terms. But he is now leading a national campaign to save the Nazim system, which is being allowed to fade away when the mandate of those elected across the country expires in October, with no fresh elections planned.

Attock marks the historic crossing point of the Indus River, where armies since Alexander the Great have come after crossing the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan with India to the east in their sights.

But history has passed the town by as nowadays a motorway bridge further north is the route to the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), giving the ancient border town a forgotten air.

Maj Tahir says that the Nazim system offers voters unique access to the levers of power that they do not have when their political rulers are far away in the Punjabi power centre of Lahore, or the national capital Islamabad.

"Local government is there to solve the petty problems of the people, small problems, scuffles between people, and development issues, where a road goes, where a school should be built," he says.

In the eight years that he has been in power a public park has been built along with hospitals and sports facilities, rural bridges, eight dams and 375 school upgrades.

The system provides direct elections for village representatives, who come together with neighbouring villages to discuss issues, and vote for the district nazim, the post held in Attock by Maj Tahir. One third of the seats are reserved for women.

In a nation that has struggled to settle its constitution, veering between periods of military rule and unstable democratic control, ironically it has been military rulers who have done most for rural democracy.

The nazim system was introduced in 2001 by Gen Musharraf. Earlier attempts to introduce local voting were made in two other periods of military rule, under Ayub Khan in the late 1950s and Zia al-Haq in the 1980s.

Maj Tahir claims that since democracy was restored after the military dictatorship ended at the beginning of last year, not a single school has been upgraded in Attock as the provincial government has starved the nazims of funds ahead of suspending local government.

The local government minister, retired Justice Abdul Razak Thahim, insists that local democracy is not being abolished for good.

He says that elections will be held after a period, but hinted that with elections already for the president, parliament, and assemblies for the four Pakistani provinces, that was enough democracy for now.

Justice Thahim says that it would be too difficult to hold elections now while the country is facing a threat from the Taliban.

This would make voting hazardous not just in NWFP, where Pakistani forces are fighting an intense campaign for control.

"How could elections be held in the provinces, when terrorists are so busy?" he asked. "All the provinces are in the grip of terrorists and we are taking action against them."

After the terms of the nazims expire in October, local power will return to non-elected officials controlled from the centre.

It is easy to be cynical about what lies behind any political move in Pakistan, where the restoration of national democracy in 2008 has not reduced corruption.

And Maj Tahir is tied by marriage to a powerful Punjabi political dynasty, the Chaudharys of Gujarat, political opponents of both of the major national ruling parties.

But he says that the place to settle this is in the voting booth, not by scrapping polls.

And the fact remains that the suspension of polls will centralise power, and reduce local accountability.

It seems there will be little public agitation to preserve the system as people are more worried about the threat of terrorism and how to get through the long hot summer faced by power cuts on an unprecedented scale.

A leading political analyst, Rasul Baksh Rais, from the Lahore University of Management Sciences, says that the abolition of local voting is a backward step, and blames all political parties for failing to provide a platform for public arguments on policy.

"The centralised decision-making within the political parties will hurt the cause of democracy. People will think that instead of Pervez Musharraf who wore a military uniform, now we have civilian dictators," he said.

In Gardez and Jalalabad, at least six Afghan security personnel were killed in a series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen on Tuesday.

The bombers strapped explosives to their chests and then tried to run into government offices. One blew himself up, killing three members of the Afghan security forces. Two others were shot by police.

One tried to get into the office of the provincial governor, but was shot. Another attacked a police station. He was shot, too.

The attacks suggest a high degree of organisation and coordination, and a measure of fanatacism. But the police response suggests that the authorities are far from helpless when under attack.

I remember reporting on heavy fighting between Afghan and US forces near Gardez. I remember the US gunships swooping low over the plains and rocketing the mountainsides. American bombing stripped the trees in mountain villages of all their leaves.

I was reminded of those spectral images of denuded forests from World War I. The bodies of young Taleban fighters lay amid the rubble, stiffening in the dry, crisp air.

Yet, here we are in 2009, and the same war is being fought in the same place by the same people.

In the course of those seven years, nothing conclusive has happened in Afghanistan.

The Obama administration is now trying to act conclusively - or at least in a fashion which will tip this conflict towards a conclusion.

By the end of this summer more than 90,000 US and Nato troops will be deployed. That is not as many as are in Iraq, but it is starting to be a military effort of comparable dimensions.

The president's strategy review - which he announced in March - reworked some of the war's basic assumptions.

We are now in the middle of another review - this time conducted by the new commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.

We expect that General McChrystal will find that without an even greater expansion in the number of Afghan security forces, the success of the overall military effort will remain in the balance.

The current plan is to expand the Afghan from 85,000 to 134,000 in the next two years or so. General McChrystal may well seek more than that - with the funding to match.

The increase in coalition and troop numbers have a clearly stated purpose: to provide security for the Afghan people, and to open up a space in which development and governance can start to take root.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in Afghanistan last week. He said his troops were "the finest counterinsurgency force in the world".

"We know what we need to do," he said. "I think we know how to do it. It's now a matter of resourcing it and executing it."

Some officials, though, remain concerned that Afghan capacity in development and governance will never rise to American expectations, even reduced expectations.

Even if US and Nato troops succeed in bringing a measure of security, "where is this Afghan official who will step in?", asked one.

American and British officials seem resigned to the idea that Hamid Karzai will retain the presidency in next month's elections, and they will have to put up with what they often describe as his corrupt and ineffectual administration.

One source close to Afghan policy-making says the hope is no longer for a "single writ of government country-wide". Rather, he says, "local arrangements are the key".

In practice, that may mean shoring up local power structures based on tribes or mayors or governors, rather than hoping for a central government whose power flows through the entire country; a patchwork of politics, rather than a pattern.

This intensification of the war by the Obama administration in part explains why the coalition casualties are rising.

July has seen more US, British and Nato troops die than any other month since the invasion; 56 fatalities. Two-thirds of them were from roadside bombs.

The number of attacks on coalition forces has risen precipitately. In the first five months of this year the number of attacks by "Improvised Explosive Devices" - mainly roadside bombs - were up 64% over the previous year.

Attacks using 'direct fire' - that means mainly automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades - were up 61%.

These are frightening numbers for a war-weary American public - though popular support for the Afghan war seems to remain relatively solid. In a recent Gallup poll, 54% of respondents said things were going well in Afghanistan.

Honduras has been in crisis ever since President Manuel Zelaya was ousted by opponents who objected to his proposals for constitutional change.

The conflict reflects the battle between left and right that is raging throughout Latin America, argues George Philip, Professor of Comparative and Latin American Politics at the London School of Economics.

In Latin America, as elsewhere, constitutional conflicts tend to reflect battles for power.

It was triggered when Mr Zelaya sought to hold a non-binding public consultation to ask people whether they supported efforts to change the constitution, a move his critics perceived as an attempt to remove the current one-term limit on serving as president.

For some people, most prominently Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the conflict in Honduras is a battle between left and right.

According to this interpretation, the left, led by Mr Zelaya, is seeking a strong presidency able to lead a process of political and social transformation, while conservatives, like Roberto Micheletti, the interim president of Honduras, want a weaker executive, amply checked by the congress and the courts.

The conflict over presidential term limits, though not the only factor in making or inhibiting a strong presidency, at least partially reflects this difference of viewpoint.

President Barack Obama is trying to show that his government is committed to democratic governance in Latin America whoever is involved.

He has pointedly been refusing to engage in a duel with Hugo Chavez, whether over Honduras or anything else.

For Mr Obama, the key issue is legitimation. He wants the US government to lose its historical reputation as a regional bully.

But Mr Obama wants to be a non-interventionist and a promoter of democracy as well as a good neighbour. Institutional conflicts within Latin America may make this more difficult.

The issue of presidential re-election has recently become salient across the region.

Although all countries' stories are different, there have already been a number of votes relating directly or indirectly to this issue.

Historically, the idea of no re-election was intended to limit the advantages of presidential incumbency in countries where other forms of political accountability were weak.

Originally, presidents could do pretty much what they liked so long as they kept sufficient support within the military.

The slogan of the Mexican Revolution - 'sufragio efectivo, no re-eleccion' (an effective vote and no re-election) - was seen as democratising.

When democracy once again started to take root in Latin America in the 1980s, most national constitutions forbade immediate re-election, with second terms not permitted until after a waiting period, if at all.

The 1980s were a bad economic decade for Latin America and few incumbents had any prospect of re-election. The issue therefore tended to be put on hold.

In the 1990s, though, when the regional economy started to pick up, it returned with a vengeance.

Peru's President Alberto Fujimori closed the national congress in 1992, organised elections for a new constituent assembly and had the new constitution approved by national plebiscite.

This new constitution, unlike the old, permitted a second consecutive election and Mr Fujimori stood again for election in 1995 and won.

Constitutional changes during the 1990s also permitted a second consecutive presidential term in both Argentina and Brazil.

Argentine President Carlos Menem, once re-elected, considered running for a third term but then drew back.

In Colombia, the constitution has recently been changed to allow a second consecutive term and there are suggestions that President Alvaro Uribe is considering asking to be allowed to run yet again.

The issue of re-election became more politically polarising once Hugo Chavez was elected in Venezuela.

Mr Chavez used a series of plebiscites to bypass the existing congress and change the constitution.

The new constitution extended the presidential term from five years to six and permitted a single re-election.

Things changed further after Mr Chavez was successfully re-elected in 2006. He then called for a plebiscite on permitting a third presidential term.

He lost the initial vote in 2007 but then called a fresh vote on basically the same issue (there were a few differences) earlier this year, which he won.

The pattern of an incumbent president calling for a new constitution to strengthen the power of the presidency and permit a second term (or more) has also been adopted by Mr Chavez's main South American allies - Evo Morales in Bolivia and Rafael Correa in Ecuador.

Now we have the crisis in Honduras, and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega has also just recently called for a change in the national constitution to permit presidential re-election.

It may seem anomalous that the re-election issue is so widely seen as important within Latin America.

There are, after all, ways of bypassing it. One is to use presidential relatives.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was elected to the presidency of Argentina in 2007, following on immediately from her husband's term.

Argentina's Juan Peron was replaced as president by his wife Isabel upon his death in 1974, though her term was brief and disastrous.

However, Honduras's particular conflict, while it has an institutional aspect, can also be seen as a further round in the conflict between Mr Chavez (and his supporters) and the region's conservatives. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8159932.stm>

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the US is prepared to bolster the defence of its Gulf allies if Iran develops a nuclear weapons programme.

Mrs Clinton said if the US extended a "defence umbrella" over the region, it was unlikely that Iran would be any stronger or safer having a weapon.

On North Korea, she said it must agree to "irreversible" denuclearisation before returning to multilateral talks.

"We have made it very clear to the North Koreans that if they will agree to irreversible denuclearisation, the United States as well as our partners will move forward on a package of incentives and opportunities including normalising relations," she told a press conference in the Thai resort of Phuket. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8162402.stm>

A Chinese man suspected of stealing a prototype for the fourth generation iPhone has committed suicide.

Before his death, Sun Danyong told friends he had been beaten up by security staff from his firm, Foxconn, one of Apple's largest manufacturers.

Foxconn, a large Taiwanese company which employed Sun in its huge Shenzhen factory, has launched an investigation.

Apple says it is saddened by the death and is waiting for the results of the investigation.

"We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect," Jill Tan, an Apple spokeswoman in Hong Kong, told reporters.

Such prototypes are a closely guarded secret, as Apple likes to keep its new products and upgrades under wraps until their launch date, to heighten customer anticipation.

On 13 July, Sun reported that he was missing one of the 16 units in his possession.

The company immediately launched an investigation into the disappearance; three days later he had jumped to his death.

Sun's former classmates have told Chinese newspapers that during the firm's investigation he was beaten, his house was searched and he was locked up alone in a room.

They say he described what happened in an online chat with them as one of the most humiliating experiences of his life.

Foxconn and the local public security bureau are investigating the allegations, and the firm has expressed its condolences to Sun's family and set up extra counselling services for employees.

Mr Gu denies hitting Sun, and a CCTV image of the worker on the day before he died - which was featured on the front page of the local Nanfang Metropolitan Daily on Wednesday - appears to back up Mr Gu's version of events.

According to a BBC correspondent in Beijing, Chris Hogg, Foxconn has faced allegations in the past that it treats its employees poorly.

A woman has been arrested in Mexico over the deaths of two midget wrestlers - twin brothers - discovered in a hotel room last month.

Prosecutors allege she was one of two women who spiked the wrestlers' drinks with eye-drops as part of a robbery.

The 65-year-old woman denies the charges. The police said they were searching for her alleged accomplice, known as "The Fat One".

The brothers, Alejandro and Alberto Perez Jimenez, 35, fought under the names El Espectrito II ("The Little Ghost") and La Parkita ("Little Death"). Many professional Mexican wrestlers wear masks as part of their adopted characters.

Prosecutors say the suspect met the two wrestlers in the centre of Mexico City and agreed to go back with them to their hotel room.

There, it is alleged, she and her friend put eye-drops into the brothers' alcoholic drinks.

Surveillance cameras showed the two women leaving the hotel. The suspect held by police was allegedly traced through calls made on one of the wrestlers' mobile phones.

The prosecutors say female gangs have been drugging men to rob them. The suspect and her accomplice, they allege, failed to take into account the wrestlers' small stature, and gave them too big a dose.

She admits meeting the wrestlers but denies drugging or killing them, telling prosecutors she stayed in their hotel room for just 20 minutes. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8162991.stm>

5 days before SONA, Arroyo halts offensives vs MILF rebs

Five days before her last State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines Thursday to stop its offensives against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in a bid to restart peace talks, a move welcomed by the guerrillas.

Talks with the MILF broke down last year, when the government accused the rebels of launching attacks on several villages in Mindanao after the Supreme Court threw out a preliminary peace deal.

Chief government negotiator Rafael Seguis said Mrs. Arroyo's order is aimed at providing a conducive atmosphere for the resumption of talks.

He said it would also allow some 300,000 displaced civilians to return to their homes and farms in the southern Philippines, where Muslims have been fighting for self-rule in Mindanao for decades.

“This is a step in the right direction. We’re right on track. The prospects are bright. We're laying one brick at a time for the resumption of the talks. We're still very hopeful that talks can resume," Seguis said in a text message.

However, Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño suspects that Mrs. Arroyo is “just after nice soundbites" for her SONA speech.

“After the SONA, where she will claim gains in the peace process with the MILF and NDF (National Democratic Front), the peace process will again flounder," he said.

Political analyst Ramon Casiple echoed Casiño's view in discounting the sincerity of Mrs. Arroyo’s move.

“It’s all media-hype. I’m sure her decision will not change the situation in Mindanao. Undoubtedly, she is creating a situation that is favorable to her SONA," Casiple, executive director of the non-government Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, told GMANews.TV in an interview Thursday.

Casiple likewise observed Mrs. Arroyo’s recent “low-profile" image, which he said could be an attempt to distance herself from the unpopular decisions of her administration.

“Being silent and away from controversies could also be a way to prop up her image," said Casiple.

Government troops "shall suspend all offensive operations in the conflict-affected areas ... and revert to active defense mode," said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the most senior Cabinet member.

He said, however, that the police force would continue hunting down three rebel commanders accused of reigniting the clashes last August, when the guerrillas rampaged through coastal communities in the central Mindanao region, leaving scores of people dead.

It was still not clear when the Malaysian-brokered talks will resume, said chief rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/168069/5-days-before-SONA-Arroyo-halts-offensives-vs-MILF-rebs>

US Vice-President Joe Biden has told the BBC that the war in Afghanistan is in the interests of the US and the UK.

"It is worth the effort we are making," he said, warning that the terror groups on the border with Pakistan could "wreak havoc" on Europe and the US.

The number of foreign troop deaths has jumped recently, sparking questions in the UK over its involvement in the war.

Mr Biden suggested more sacrifice would have to be made during what he termed the "fighting season".

He was speaking to the BBC's Jonathan Beale during a European trip which has taken him to Ukraine and Georgia.

The vice-president insisted that "in terms of national interest of Great Britain, the US and Europe, [the war in Afghanistan] is worth the effort we are making and the sacrifice that is being felt".

He said forces were for the first time directly tackling Taleban fighters in some areas of the country.

"This, unfortunately, is the fighting season [...] the trees are up in the mountains again, people are able to infiltrate from the hills of Pakistan, and in Helmand province - where the Taleban had free rein for a number of years, we are engaging them now."

"This is the place from which the attacks of 9/11 and all those attacks in Europe that came from al-Qaeda have flowed from that place - between Afghanistan and Pakistan."

He said the terror groups who sheltered along the Afghan-Pakistan border combined with the country's role in the international drug trade - supplying 90% of the world's heroin - meant the war in Afghanistan needed to succeed.

"It is a place that, if it doesn't get straightened out, will continue to wreak havoc on Europe and the United States," he said.

He said the goal of the US was both "eradicating terrorism and not planting the seeds for its return," underlining the importance of removing the lucrative heroin-producing poppy crop which funds both al-Qaeda and radical jihadists.

Over the last few years, the US has used controversial drone attacks to hit militant targets in Pakistan from Afghanistan.

Pakistan has in the past expressed concerns about the impact of such military offensives in southern Afghanistan on south-west Pakistan as militants seep over the border into the restive Baluchistan province. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8164202.stm>

The memoirs of former spy Anthony Blunt reveal how he regarded passing British secrets to Communist Russia as the "biggest mistake of my life".

He supplied hundreds of secret documents to the Soviets while a wartime agent for MI5.

Blunt was part of the infamous Cambridge spy ring, with Kim Philby, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean.

His manuscript, at the British Library in London, says a "naive" desire to help Moscow beat fascism motivated him.

Blunt wrote the 30,000-word document after former prime minister Margaret Thatcher exposed his treachery in 1979.

The revelations had led to a man who had worked as Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures being stripped of his knighthood.

His version of events was given to the library in 1984, the year after his death, on condition that it was not displayed for 25 years.

In it, he describes his recruitment by Moscow: "I found that Cambridge had been hit by Marxism and that most of my friends among my junior contemporaries - including Guy Burgess - had either joined the Communist Party or were at least very close to it politically."

However, Burgess - who had already begun working for Stalin's Comintern - persuaded him not to join the party but instead to work undercover.

"What I did not realise at the time is that I was so naive politically that I was not justified in committing myself to any political action of this kind," says Blunt.

"The atmosphere in Cambridge was so intense, the enthusiasm for any anti-fascist activity was so great, that I made the biggest mistake of my life."

Blunt's memoirs reveal little about his espionage activities during World War II, during which he passed on top-secret material decoded from German radio traffic.

He claims he later became disillusioned with Moscow, wishing only to "return to my normal academic life".

The trial of the main suspect in the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks will continue despite his admission of guilt, the judge has ruled.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab's confession will go on record but it does not address all 86 charges he faces, Judge ML Tahiliyani said.

The trial has now resumed as normal and prosecution witnesses have started giving evidence in court.

Mr Qasab, who is a Pakistani, faces 86 charges, including waging war on India, murder and possessing explosives.

In May, he pleaded not guilty to all charges. Prosecutors say he changed his plea to secure leniency.

As the trial resumed it was confirmed that Mr Qasab's defence lawyer, Abbas Kazmi, would continue as his counsel.

He had earlier offered to withdraw from the case, after which the judge asked Mr Qasab and Mr Kazmi to "speak to each other and sort out your problem".

The prosecution had argued that the trial should proceed, while the defence said it should end and a judgement be delivered if the court accepted Mr Qasab's plea.

Judge Tahiliyani said the confessional statement made by the accused on Monday and Tuesday would remain on record, but described it as a partial admission.

"At the outset I am not inclined to pronounce the judgement... The accused has not admitted to all charges. He admits certain parts, admission of guilt for certain charges. He has not admitted to many of the 86 charges," Judge Tahiliyani said.

"I will not express any views on the evidential value [of the statement] at this stage as it is not necessary. I have already indicated that the trial will proceed further."

The ruling came a day after the accused said he was ready to be hanged after the prosecution suggested his confession was a ploy to secure a lighter sentence.

Chief public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said by making the confession, the accused was putting the larger share of the blame on his accomplice [Abu Ismail] who was already dead.

The main opposition candidate in Kyrgyzstan's presidential election, Almazbek Atambayev, has pulled out on polling day, claiming widespread fraud.

Mr Atambayev said the vote, in which President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is running for a second term, was illegitimate and a new election should be held.

The US and Russia both have military bases in the strategically important Central Asian nation.

Mr Atambayev told a news conference in the capital Bishkek: "Due to mass voter fraud we demand that this election be stopped and a new election held instead."

He had earlier said he planned to lead a march to the election commission later in the evening, when preliminary results are to be announced.

"People will march in an organised way... We will wait until this evening and then people will decide what to do for themselves."

An opposition rally of about 500 people in front of the mayor's office in the northern town of Balykchi was broken up by riot police, says the BBC's Rayhan Demytrie in Bishkek. No injuries were reported.

A spokesman for Mr Atambayev said police fired shots in the air and used batons to disperse the crowd, Reuters news agency reported.

The head of the election commission said the election was valid and that with several hours still to go before the polls closed, voter turnout was 61.83%.

An election monitor in Kyrgyzstan with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), told the BBC that there were concerns during the campaign that the media was strongly biased in favour of "one candidate".

The OSCE monitors release their report on the conduct of the election on Friday.

With Mr Atambayev out of the running, there are now five candidates, including Mr Bakiyev.

His opponents have accused him of stifling dissent and tightening his grip on power. There has been a series of attacks on independent journalists.

Mr Bakiyev issued a warning to potential demonstrators, saying: "We will suppress, within the limits of the law, any attempts to organise disorder."

Security is tight across Kyrgyzstan, with 5,000 officers deployed around the country and extra measures in the potentially restive areas of the Ferghana valley.

The US and Nato use the Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan to supply their troops in Afghanistan, and will be watching intently for any signs of political instability, analysts say.

Kyrgyzstan is the only state in Central Asia to have had a so-called "colour" revolution, when a previous president was removed in a popular uprising.

That happened in 2005, but four years on the country finds itself in a different political environment, according to the BBC's Rayhan Demetrie in Bishkek.

President Bakiyev - who took power after the Tulip revolution with 90% of the vote - has campaigned on a platform of stability.

SOMO won't stop pursuit of rogue MILF leaders - AFP

The government’s suspension of military offensives (SOMO) against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will not stop security forces from pursuing rogue MILF leaders, the Philippine military stressed Friday.

Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the AFP will assist the Philippine National Police (PNP) in going after rogue MILF commanders blamed for several crimes in the past that include murder, arson, and robbery.

"Hindi natin pwedeng kalimutan ang ginawa nila. Meron silang warrant of arrest. Katulad kay Umbra Kato meron siyang 147 arrest warrants for murder, arson, robbery at marami pa. Di natin pwedeng pabayaan yan," Brawner said in an interview on dzXL radio.

(We cannot forget what these rogue commanders did. One of them, Umbra Kato, has 147 warrants for murder, arson, robbery and other offenses. We cannot let that pass.)

For his part, AFP Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer said the SOMO will "bring about an environment that is suitable for mutual understanding."

"The SOMO, however, should not be viewed as a face about on our promise to bring Ameril Umbra Kato and his men to the bar of justice. Law enforcement operations against the lawless MILF Group shall continue with the AFP playing a support role to the PNP," Ferrer said. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/168129/SOMO-wont-stop-pursuit-of-rogue-MILF-leaders---AFP>

US defence officials say they are all but certain that Osama bin Laden's son, Saad, was killed by a US missile strike in Pakistan earlier this year.

The Pentagon would say nothing in public, but officials in Washington speaking anonymously said they thought it very likely Saad bin Laden was dead.

Correspondents say he is believed to have been active in al-Qaeda but never a senior lieutenant to his father.

Intelligence agents were "80 to 85%" sure Saad Bin Laden had been killed, an official told the US-based National Public Radio.

US intelligence agencies believe Saad Bin Laden fled to Pakistan after spending several years under house arrest in Iran.

He was not targeted but was caught in a missile strike from an unmanned American drone flying over Pakistan "sometime this year", an official told NPR.

He was probably killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a US Predator drone, the official said.

It is not known if he was in the same location as his father, who is believed to be hiding in the rugged mountainous tribal area that runs along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The US has stepped up its drone attacks on targets linked to al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the area.

It is a tactic started under former President George W Bush, but embraced by President Barack Obama, says the BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington.

US officials maintain that in the absence of concerted Pakistani help in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the use of unmanned drones is their best option, our correspondent adds. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8164763.stm>

SC exec: Arroyo adviser did rounds for transition govt

Does she really intend to perpetuate herself in power? The President’s National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales had been reportedly doing the rounds seeking support from key personalities including Chief Justice Reynato Puno for a transition government that could still be headed by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER NORBERTO GONZALES: Eyeing a transition government? - AP FILE PHOTO

“Nag-ikot-ikot kasi siya (Gonzales) at sinabi niya ang idea about a transition government (He’s been doing the rounds telling the idea about a transition government). He wanted to inform the Chief Justice about his views," Puno’s spokesman, Jose Midas Marquez, said in an interview with GMANews.TV Friday night.

Puno’s “feedback" on setting up a transition government was asked by Gonzales when the two attended the 13th National Convention of the Philippine Association of Court Employees, according to Marquez. The event was held at the Cebu International Convention Center last July 1.

Marquez said Puno advised Gonzales to take steps that would be in accordance with the rule of law and the Philippine Constitution.

GMANews.TV tried but failed on Friday night to confirm from Gonzales if he indeed met with Puno. Gonzales’ cellular phone kept on ringing but it was unanswered.

CHIEF JUSTICE PUNO TO GONZALES: Follow the rule of law. - AP FILE PHOTO

Marquez could not say if Gonzales told Puno that Mrs. Arroyo would head the transition government. Marquez just said that Gonzales told the chief justice that the new government would have “positions for respective individuals."

Arroyo included?

But earlier news reports quoted Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias as saying that he also met with Gonzales who allegedly told him that Arroyo and Congress members would be included in the proposed revolutionary government.

Tobias reportedly met with Gonzales and Undersecretary Milo Ibrado, deputy director general of the National Security Council, twice at the bishop’s residence in East Fairview, Quezon City.

One of the meetings happened last June 22, according to reports. Members of the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya, of which Tobias is a member, were also present during the two meetings.

Under Gonzalez's proposed government, a transition council would be formed to draw up a new Charter by October this year, according to reports.

In Gonzalez’s proposal, the upcoming May elections would also push through albeit operating under the new constitution.

In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer published last June 15, Gonzales said President Arroyo would be needed in a Philippine parliament.

“She being a future ex-President, her wisdom and experience will be needed in our parliament," said Gonzales.

He also reportedly said that his primary concern was the establishment of a transitional government that would include Arroyo.

“The call of the time is for the three major branches of government, supported by key pillars of our society like the Churches, civil society and mass movements, to agree to a transitional government respected by the Armed Forces," Gonzales said. - MARK D. MERUEÑAS and ARCS, GMANews.TV <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/168176/SC-exec-Arroyo-adviser-did-rounds-for-transition-govt>

"There is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."

That was how US President Barack Obama put the arrest of the black Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr into context.

His comments - in particular his description of the arresting officer's actions as "stupid" - have attracted criticism in conservative circles, forcing him to make a surprise appearance at the daily White House press briefing in an attempt to calm the situation.

But for many in America, Mr Obama's evocation of the country's history of racial oppression will have great resonance.

Professor Gates was arrested outside his own home. A passer-by had called the police after seeing him apparently attempting to force his way in through a damaged front door.

When Sgt James Crowley arrived, Professor Gates indicated that he was the owner of the property and reportedly began accusing Sgt Crowley of racism.

Sgt Crowley then arrested him for disorderly conduct, prompting Professor Gates, director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, to allegdly start shouting: "This is what happens to black men in America."

Since the middle of May, the army has been conducting a military offensive against Pakistan's Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud - whose hideout lies in the mountainous terrain there.

But unlike the recent operation in the Swat valley, it says it has refrained from going all out against the militants so far.

The army says it wants to surround the militants and use air power and artillery to ''soften them up".

"We are just punishing them at the moment," says Maj General Athar Abbas, head of the army's public relations wing.

"This is so that when the operation starts they can't stand up to us. We have surrounded the entire area where the Taliban are based," he says.

If this is true, the army appears in a prime position to fulfil its mission to "eliminate" Baitullah Mehsud and his organisation.

But it appears in no mood to begin the much-heralded military assault which already has a name - Rah-e-Nijat or Path to Deliverance.

But the fact that people have had to wait so long for a serious assault on militants has led to fears, not without precedent, about a possible deal between the army and the Taliban.

One of the allegations concerns correspondence between Baitullah Mehsud and the head of Pakistan's army.

"The army will not even consider such a possibility. This is utter speculation," he said.

Gen Abbas said the army was fully committed to its goal of defeating the Taliban.

But there are those who feel the army and the Taliban are engaging in battle only because of certain "misunderstandings".

He has been trying to negotiate a truce between Pakistan's security forces and the Taliban. For some time Mr Aziz has acted as a mediator between the government and the Taliban and other extremists.

He enjoys very close relations with the Taliban leadership and with radical clerics such as the head of Islamabad's Red Mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz.

Mr Aziz played a key role when in 2007 Pakistani security forces laid siege to the Red Mosque after dozens of radical Islamists barricaded themselves inside.

He was a key figure in mediating between the mosque administration and the government. Although that episode ended with troops storming the mosque killing scores of militants, Mr Aziz has continued in his role as a negotiator.

He was the man behind the Taliban's statement that it would cease operations against the army in December 2008, soon after the Mumbai attacks.

Mr Aziz's most recent project has been to try and "resolve" the stand-off between Baitullah Mehsud and the government.

In this regard, he is said to have delivered a letter from Baitullah Mehsud to General Ashfaq Kayani, the head of Pakistan's army.

Subsequently, Mr Aziz has gone missing amid reports he was arrested outside the house of radical cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.

"He was picked up on the morning of 27 May along with a man called Fidaullah," says Khalid Khawaja, an ex-ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence agency] official turned human rights activist.

Fidaullah was later produced by the Islamabad police in a highly publicised press conference as the "mastermind" of a spate of recent suicide bombings.

Senior security officials have told the BBC that he is in detention and being interrogated for his links with Baitullah Mehsud.

They say a letter was discovered on his person from the Taliban commander, but it was for a former head of Pakistan's ISI agency.

The letter is said to discuss the various alternatives available to Baitullah Mehsud and his militants.

But officials deny any letter addressed to the army chief was found or even existed.

Mr Khawaja, a close confidant of Mr Aziz, denies that his friend was in any way directly involved in planning or abetting militant acts.

"Shah Abdul Aziz did not want a conflict to take place between the Taliban and the army as it would cost the nation dear.

"I have been trying to register a police complaint for his recovery, but the police have refused to act so far," Mr Khawaja says.

As far as the mysterious letter letter to the head of Pakistan's army is concerned, Mr Khawaja confirms its authenticity.

"I have seen the letter, and it is has now been delivered to its destination," he says.

These developments come days after a pro-government tribal leader accused the government of making a deal with Baitullah Mehsud.

Turkistan Bhittani, leader of the anti-Baitullah Mehsud group in Waziristan, had until recently been accorded the complete support of Pakistan's security forces.

But, on 14 July, he accused the authorities of closing down his offices in the Dera Ismail Khan district bordering Waziristan.

"The government is openly supporting the Baitullah group and allowing it to re-establish itself," he told reporters.

US President Barack Obama has told reporters he should not have described the arrest of a black Harvard professor as "stupid".

Mr Obama has faced criticism for wading into the controversy during a televised news conference on Wednesday.

Professor Gates was apprehended at his own home after a witness saw him apparently trying to force his way in.

He was held for disorderly conduct after allegedly accusing the arresting officer, Sgt James Crowley, of racism.

Making a surprise appearance at the daily White House press briefing, Mr Obama said he should have chosen his words more carefully at his Wednesday news conference.

"Because this has been ratcheting up and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I wanted to make clear in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt Crowley specifically," Mr Obama said.

Mr Obama also revealed that he had spoken to Sgt Crowley on the telephone, and described him as an "outstanding police officer and a good man".

He said he continued to believe that Professor Gates's arrest was "an overreaction", but that "Professor Gates probably overreacted as well". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8168313.stm>

Voters in Kurdistan in northern Iraq go to the polls on Saturday in a double election, to choose a new parliament and a president for their autonomous region.

The elections have been the most vibrant and exciting since 1992, when the Kurds held their first-ever free polls after winning de facto autonomy.

That first election saw a massive turnout, with huge crowds of Kurds besieging the polling stations until after midnight, thrilled by the novelty of choosing their own leaders by ballot.

The choice at that time was basically between the two big factions which emerged out of decades of armed opposition to Baghdad - the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) headed by Masood Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by the current Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani.

The two groups went on to battle one another in a vicious civil war in the mid-1990s which has left many lingering resentments and grudges below the surface.

But they later mended their fences, unified their rival governments and set up a coalition government, presenting joint lists of candidates in elections for the regional parliament.

So recent polls have been pretty dull affairs with no real issues or significant competition, simply consolidating the rule of the two big parties.

For the first time, the two factions have faced a serious challenge, launched by reformists from within their own ranks.

Leading the charge is Noshirwan Mustafa, a former stalwart of the PUK who was President Talabani's deputy in the party until he split off.

The movement launched by Mr Mustafa took the word Change (Goran in Kurdish) as both its title and its slogan.

It attracted an impressive upsurge of support, especially among the young and the poor, most visibly in the PUK-influenced areas in eastern Kurdistan, including the big city of Suleimaniya.

Offers of help are pouring in for an eight-year-old Liberian girl disowned by her own family in Phoenix, Arizona, after being raped by four boys.

The girl is under the care of the Arizona Child Protective Service (CPS) because her parents said she had shamed them, and they did not want her back.

Phoenix police said calls had come in from all over the US offering money, or even to adopt the young girl.

The case has sparked outrage across the US and even drawn condemnation from Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an outspoken anti-rape campaigner.

"I think that family is wrong. They should help that child who has been traumatised," Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf told CNN.

"They too need serious counselling because clearly they are doing something, something that is no longer acceptable in our society here," she added.

Media reports said the girl was lured into a shed on 16 July with promises of chewing gum by the four young boys.

There, they held her down and took turns assaulting her for 10 to 15 minutes, before her screams alerted officers nearby.

The oldest suspect, a 14-year-old boy, will be tried as an adult on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault, police said on Friday. He is being held in police custody until trial.

The other three - aged 9, 10, and 13 - are charged as juveniles with sexual assault and kidnapping.

"They didn't abandon the child," Phoenix police sergeant Andy Hill told AFP news agency. "They committed no crime. They just didn't support the child, which led to CPS coming over there."

Sgt Hill said people from eight or nine US states had called wanting to adopt the girl or donate money.

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has failed to declare the presence of 30 ancient tombs on his land, according to newly published recordings said to be of him.

The recordings allege Mr Berlusconi told escort Patrizia D'Addario of 30 Phoenician tombs at his Sardinia villa.

But officials say there is no record of him reporting any finds - a legal requirement for all Italians - and opposition MPs have called for a probe.

In the conversations, said to be between Mr Berlusconi and Ms D'Addario, the man boasts to her about his sprawling villa in Sardinia, where Mr Berlusconi has his own ice cream parlour and artificial lakes.

"Here we found 30 Phoenician tombs from [around] 300 BC," the voice said to be Mr Berlusconi is heard to say.

The Phoenicians were merchants and traders based around modern-day Lebanon, whose maritime expertise helped them extend their reach into the Mediterranean.

Finding a collection of tombs from the Phoenician era would be of major archaeological significance, opponents of Mr Berlusconi said.

Under Italian law archaeological discoveries made on private property must be reported to the authorities for inspection.

Newspapers in Italy reports that Sardinia's Department of Culture has said it has no knowledge of any such tombs on Mr Berlusconi's land, the BBC's Duncan Kennedy reports from Rome.

"We want to know if they exist or not and if so, whether they have been reported," opposition parliamentarian Andrea Marcucci told Reuters news agency. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8168085.stm>

From Ian Fleming to John Le Carre - authors have long been fascinated by the world of espionage. But, asks the BBC's Gordon Corera, what do real life spooks make of fictional spies? <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8166163.stm>

Policing the World-15

Obesity health risk cause 'found'

US president sets Afghan target

Fears abound in Swat's main town

Syria renaissance excludes human rights

LA 'ripped off' over Jackson gig

Cheney 'ordered CIA to hide plan'

Tough love from a brother

Gangs rule in El Salvador jails

Pain in childbirth 'a good thing'

Inquiry opens into Iraqi's death

Pakistani displaced begin return

SC sets oral arguments for poll automation deal

France unrest before Bastille Day

Swat diary: 'Taliban defeated'

Want to know how to handle all of these?

Israel soldiers speak out on Gaza

Israel warships pass through Suez

Hondurans 'have right to revolt'

Mexico bodies were federal agents

US war zone troops 'can smoke'

Pride and hardship of Waziristan displaced

Court in Pakistan acquits Sharif

Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels

Kenyan mosque jams mobile calls

Chaos and defiance at Guantanamo court

Leaving Guantanamo for paradise

CIA probes could derail Obama's plans

Ultra-orthodox Jews visit Hamas

San Diego menaced by jumbo squid

Court bid to end Jerusalem riots

Video stokes Ecuador-Colombia row

Zelaya 'to return if talks fail'

Obama urged to take up alleged torture of Fil-Am with Arroyo

Tensions rise over US Iraq role

US 'seeks Afghan prison overhaul'

Honduran crisis talks break down

CHR to secure Fil-Am activist while in RP

PDEA chief vows Mexico-style war against drug syndicates

Nato warning over Afghan mission

Fujimori convicted of corruption

Police: No abduction, no rape of anti-drug agent’s daughter

East Afghan cities hit by Taliban

Medieval battle records go online

Asia watches long solar eclipse

The rise of Pakistan's 'civilian dictators'

US looks for progress in Afghanistan

Honduras crisis reflects regional battle

US 'ready to boost Gulf defence'

China iPhone man commits suicide

Mexican midget wrestlers arrest

5 days before SONA, Arroyo halts offensives vs MILF rebs

Afghan war is 'worth the effort'

Blunt's Soviet spying 'a mistake'

Mumbai suspect trial to proceed

Kyrgyz candidate in poll pullout

SOMO won't stop pursuit of rogue MILF leaders - AFP

Bin Laden son 'probably killed'

SC exec: Arroyo adviser did rounds for transition govt

Harvard row highlights US tensions

Pakistan's South Waziristan puzzle

Obama regrets 'stupid' comments

Iraqi Kurds vote in 'vibrant' elections

Outcry over disowned US rape girl

Berlusconi 'hid ancient graves'

Spies like them