World News joined 0012

[Black Widow]

Police have launched a murder hunt after a man was stabbed to death in front of his girlfriend and her two young children in Scotland.

Sean Hay was attacked by three men in Wardieburn Street West in the Granton area of Edinburgh.

Officers said one of the attackers produced a weapon and stabbed the 23-year-old, who was from Edinburgh.

He was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he later died from his injuries.

The three men were last seen running away from the scene of the crime, which happened at around 10.30pm on Tuesday night.

The crime scene was sealed off and officers have been carrying out door-to-door inquiries.

Detective Inspector Richard Thomas, who is leading the investigation, described it as a "shocking" attack, and urged anyone with information to contact them.

He said: "The fact there were two young children present doesn't appear to have discouraged the men from initiating the attack in any way.

"We believe there were a number of people who were in the area at around the time of the disturbance.

"We are appealing for anyone who was in the area and saw what happened to contact police immediately."


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China says it will allow demonstrations in three designated city parks during the Olympic Games in Beijing.

But anyone wanting to protest will have to apply for permission from the city's government and police.

The announcement suggests China will have a more relaxed attitude towards protesters during the Olympics than it had in the past.

Chinese citizens are already allowed to stage rallies, although in reality there are few anti-government protests.

Liu Shaowu, director of the Beijing organising committee's security department, said protests would be allowed in Shijie, Zizhuyuan and Ritan parks.

"They are all close to the city proper and the Olympic venues," he told a press conference on the city's security preparations.

But Mr Wu was hazy about how potential protesters would apply for permission, and on whether spontaneous demonstrations would be allowed.

"As for the concrete application, and who handles those applications, I have no clear information at this time," he said.

'Encouraged'

The issue of protests is a sensitive one for China, which this year has had to deal with unrest in Tibetan areas in western China.

Chinese law – as Mr Wu made clear – lets ordinary people stage demonstrations, but few protests take place that are not sanctioned by the government.

To underline just how sensitive the issue is, the Chinese authorities seemed reluctant to publicise exactly where protests would be allowed.

A transcript of Wednesday's press conference on the Beijing organising committee's website expunged the parks' names.

Earlier, Mr Wu made it clear no activities involving ethnic, political or religious activities would be allowed inside Olympic venues.

Previously, Olympic cities have set aside areas for protests, and the International Olympic Committee wanted China to follow suit.

"Past organisers have found ways to manage any protests, and the Chinese authorities were encouraged to do the same," said an IOC spokeswoman.

At the press conference, Mr Wu also dismissed suggestions that the Olympics would be a "kill-joy games" because of excessive security restrictions.

His assessment appears to be shared by the vast majority of Chinese people.

An investigation by the US-based Pew Research Centre found that 96% of Chinese people think the Olympics will be a success.

Nearly as many believe the Olympic Games will improve China's image across the globe.


BBC News

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Hurricane Dolly has hit the Mexico-Texas coast, lashing the region with winds of up to 100mph (161km/h).

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Dolly dumped about 12in (30cm) of rain over Texas before weakening from a category two to a category one storm, says the US national weather service.

Towns and cities in the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas were put on alert in case the rain causes flooding.

Power cuts have left more than 12,000 customers without electricity, according to a Texas power company.

Earlier, residents were urged to move away from levees in case they were breached.

"Preparation to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami warned.

Storm surge

The leading edge of the storm reached Texas's South Padre Island before dawn, damaging the roof of an apartment building.

The causeway linking the island to the mainland had been closed earlier.

Storm's path

Forecasters have predicted Dolly would bring a coastal storm surge of up to 6ft (1.8m) above normal.

Based on Dolly's projected path, the US Census Bureau said that about 1.5 million Texans could feel the storm's effects.

Cari Lambrecht, a spokesman for Hidalgo County, Texas, said that shelters able to hold about 400 people have been opened.

She said they were encouraging people in low-lying areas to use the shelters.

"It's so much easier for them to go now instead of us having to pull them out later," she said.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has called up 1,200 National Guard members to help in any emergency caused by the hurricane.

In Mexico, Governor Eugenio Hernandez of the state of Tamaulipas, said officials planned to evacuate 23,000 people to government shelters in Matamoros, Soto La Marina and San Fernando.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Shell Oil evacuated workers from oil rigs, but said it did not expect production to be affected.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

A British woman charged with causing the death of her newborn baby son in a hotel room is appearing in court in Crete.

Leah Andrew, 20, is charged with infanticide.

The Crete prosecutor's office said the magistrate would be deciding later whether she would be held in prison or released on bail before her eventual trial.

Police found the dead baby, weighing 5lb 8oz, in a room in the Natali hotel, Malia, in the early hours of Monday morning.

A coroner said the baby, which was discovered wrapped in sheets, showed signs of suffocation.

Andrew was taken by police from Iraklion University Hospital to give evidence at today's hearing.

She was being kept under police guard at the hospital, where she was taken after suffering extensive bleeding.

Police denied she was put on suicide watch and said she was being guarded by two officers simply because she was under arrest.

On Sunday, Andrew was on a night out with her 24-year-old sister, Lydia, and a friend.

It is understood she had not told them she was pregnant, despite being just two weeks short of her due date.

She returned to the hotel at around 3.30am, where she gave birth alone.

Police said that when the sister and friend arrived at the room they saw a sheet with something inside.

They did not open it but called the police.

It is believed Andrew has two sons, aged three and 15 months, who are being looked after by her parents.

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that the British Consulate on Crete is providing Andrew and her family with assistance.


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A 50-year-old woman has witnessed her husband and three children falling to their deaths while climbing near Europe's highest peak.

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The Dutch woman watched as the four victims, who were roped together, fell 1,600ft (500m) down an icy slope in the French-Italian Alpine range.

The woman was treated in hospital for the effects of shock.

The family had been climbing Mont Dolent - part of the Mont Blanc massif - which is 12,500ft high.

"We think one of them slipped and pulled the others down," Oscar Tajola, head of the mountain rescue team in the Italian town of Courmayeur, told the Associated Press news agency.

The woman saw the accident as she descended the mountain alone by another route, officials said.

She later identified the bodies of her husband, who was 56, their 20-year-old son, and two daughters, aged 17 and 23, which were recovered by Italian mountain rescue workers.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

A female suicide bomber has killed eight people and wounded more than 20 in Iraq, police have said.

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The woman detonated her explosives near a military patrol or checkpoint in the town of Baquba, a frequent flashpoint, security officials said.

Those killed were reported to be local Sunni troops recruited to work with US and Iraqi forces.

Baquba, some 65km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, remains a major centre for insurgents and suicide bombers.

The city, the capital of Diyala province, remains a stronghold for al-Qaeda, with regular attacks against US and Iraqi forces and against Sunni tribes who have agreed to work alongside the Americans and the national army.

Earlier this month, another female suicide bomber struck in a busy market near Baquba, killing nine people and wounding many more.

Women are less likely to attract the attention of male security guards because of Arab conventions on relations between men and women, correspondents say.


BBC News

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A powerful explosion by a beach in the Gaza Strip has killed at least three Palestinians, including a young girl, Hamas officials and medics say.

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At least 20 people were reportedly injured by the blast, which destroyed a car close to the coast in Gaza City.

Reports said the blast was the third in Gaza on Friday. Violence in the area has fallen since the militant group Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007.

Unconfirmed reports said the three men killed were Hamas fighters.

The series of bombings amounted to one of the most serious outbreaks of deadly violence since Hamas took power.

Mysterious blasts

Earlier on Friday, a bombing outside a cafe in Gaza City killed one person and injured four others, Palestinian police reported.

The blast, just after midnight local time, caused extensive damage.

It was unclear why the area was bombed, but there have been attacks on internet cafes, music shops and Christian institutions in Gaza in recent months.

Police also reported a bombing near the home of Marwan Abu Ras, a Hamas official who issues fatwas, or religious edicts, in Gaza. No-one was injured.

The militant Hamas movement seized control of Gaza by force more than a year ago from the Fatah movement of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

need better mountain climbing equipment - oh snap

[Black Widow]

Barack Obama has arrived in London on the final leg of his whistle-stop tour of the Middle East and Europe.

He has already met the French president Nicolas Sarkozy - and the last handshake of the headline-grabbing trip will be with Conservative leader David Cameron, who he'll meet at the House of Commons before heading to the airport and home.

After a successful tour for Mr Obama, in London Britain's political elite will be hoping to get the best photo opportunity of the day with him.

Because before meeting Mr Cameron at the House of Commons he'll walk through the door of Number 10 Downing Street to meet Gordon Brown. And before that there'll be a breakfast meeting with former Prime Minister Tony Blair who's now a Middle East envoy.

Mr Blair's new role gives the two men a huge amount to talk about. Mr Obama has put the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli question at the heart of his foreign policy - pledging to 'roll his sleeves up' from the moment he takes office.

We're told that the conversation between Mr Brown and Mr Obama will build on a meeting the two had in Washington in April - the meeting then was described as 'warm and wide-ranging' and that theme will continue.

Last weekend both men were in Iraq - Mr Brown on Saturday and Mr Obama on Sunday - but they didn't bump into each other.

Having both made recent trips to the Middle East they'll have plenty to discuss - not least troop withdrawal from Iraq. Mr Obama has consistently stated that he wants to get US troop's home from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.


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[Black Widow]

(CNN) -- At least 29 people were killed and 88 wounded in 17 blasts within a little more than an hour Saturday night in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, police and government officials said.

All metropolitan areas in India have been put on high alert.

Several media outlets and the country's Intelligence Bureau received an e-mail, purportedly from the Muslim militant group Indian Mujahedeen, warning about a possible attack. The group has claimed responsibility for two similar attacks in the past nine months in northern India.

Most of the explosions were in eastern Ahmedabad and within a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) radius, according to CNN's sister network CNN-IBN.

One explosion was at a bus stop, others at a railway station and on a bus. Another bomb went off under a car at a hospital where injured people were being taken, the network said. Video Watch the commotion at one blast scene »

Video footage from the scene of one explosion showed charred and twisted bicycles and motorcycles lying on the street as a crowd milled around. At least one of the bombs was on a bicycle, authorities said.

The blasts began about 6:30 p.m. and lasted until about 7:40 p.m., according to CNN-IBN.

Leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the explosions.

Indian Mujahedeen claimed responsibility in May for near-simultaneous bomb attacks that killed 63 people in the northwest Indian city of Jaipur. In that claim, the group declared "open war" against India in retaliation for what it said were 60 years of Muslim persecution and the country's support of U.S. policies.

The group also claimed responsibility for near-simultaneous blasts outside courts in three northern Indian cities in the state of Uttar Pradesh in November. More than a dozen people were killed and 80 injured.

In both the Jaipur and the Uttar Pradesh bombings, one of the blasts came from an explosives-laden bicycle.

In May, security analysts described Indian Mujahedeen as a relatively unknown group. It may be a new home-grown terror network, an alias for an existing group or a foreign militant organization.

Ahmedabad is the largest city in Gujarat state. Officials there were holding an emergency meeting in the wake of the explosions, CNN-IBN said.

The blasts come a day after nine small explosions went off in the city of Bangalore, CNN-IBN reported. Two people were killed and six injured.
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"The blasts seem to be along the lines of yesterday's Bangalore blasts," Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal said. "It is a conspiracy to unsettle the country."

Officials said they believe that the goal of the explosions was to create panic, not to kill a large number of people.


CNN.com

[Black Widow]

A woman has died in hospital after falling down disused mine workings in Ayrshire.

The 44-year-old fell about 40ft into the mine, close to the Barrwood Gate housing development in Galston.

Firefighters and the police mountain rescue team were called to the scene at about 0215 BST.

She was freed at about 0800 BST and airlifted to Crosshouse Hospital near Kilmarnock where she later died. The woman has not yet been named by police.

It is thought she had been using the area, which is popular with walkers and dog walkers, as a shortcut home.

A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said a report will be prepared for the procurator fiscal.

Inquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

A church in County Londonderry has been vandalised with an neo-Nazi slogan.

'C18', which alludes to the extreme far right Combat 18 organisation, was painted across a gable wall at St Mary's Oratory in the village.

The parish priest, Father Aidan Mullan, described the incident, which took place on Thursday night, as "disturbing".

"I'm told Combat 18 is a breakaway group from the National Front in the UK," he said.

"They were more right wing, and someone has also suggested that they have association with some paramilitaries.

"It is sinister if the 18 represents neo-Nazi prejudice and bigotry, which is a frightening thing."

It is understood the 18 refers to first and eighth letters of the alphabet, A and H - Adolf Hitler's initials.


BBC News

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Cuban President Raul Castro has warned that Cubans must be prepared for the consequences of the current global economic crisis.

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He said that developing countries had already felt the effects of rising fuel and food prices.

The speech was part of the celebrations marking the 55th anniversary of the beginning of the communist revolution.

President Castro had been expected to announce new economic policies, but in the event did not do so.

He has already introduced significant changes in the country since succeeding his ailing brother, Fidel, in February.

The president recently announced a move to allow some private farming and relaxed limits on mobile phones and computers.

'Excessive prohibitions'

Speaking for 48 minutes, President Castro warned the crowds that the economic austerity suffered in recent years would not be helped by increases in world food prices.

"The revolution has done and will continue to do whatever is possible to continue to advance and reduce to the bare minimum the inevitable consequences of international crises to our people," he said.

"But we must explain to our people the difficulties and thus prepare them to deal with them."

Raul Castro also had a message for Cuba's ideological enemy, the United States.

"We shall continue paying special attention to defence, regardless of the results of the next presidential elections in the United States," said the president.

Since taking over from his elder brother, Raul Castro has made available more unused state land to private farmers, eased restrictions on mobile phones for ordinary citizens and allowed some workers to seek legal titles for their homes.

He has also signed UN human rights accords and announced that workers can earn productivity bonuses, doing away with the egalitarian concept that everyone must earn the same.

Mr Castro delivered his speech to a crowd of some 10,000 people at the parade grounds of Santiago's historic Moncada army barracks, where he and his brother led a fruitless rebel assault exactly 55 years ago.

Both men were jailed for the attack, but did of course eventually go on to seize power from the then Cuban leader, Fulgencio Batista, on 1 January 1959.

"When we attacked the Moncada, none of us dreamed of being here today," the president told the crowd.

The Rebellion Day celebrations two years ago were the last public event at which Fidel Castro was seen before he underwent emergency intestinal surgery. He has since appeared only in official videos and photographs.


BBC News

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Some European Union countries have expressed concerns over proposed concessions made by trade negotiator Peter Mandelson at talks in Geneva.

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The discussions are trying to save the Doha round of talks, begun in 2001, intended to liberalise world trade.

But senior politicians from Italy, France and Ireland are worried about moves which would force them to cut subsidies to their farmers.

Mr Mandelson insisted that the emerging deal could not be undone.

The talks are due to continue until Wednesday.

But the fear is that even if a deal finally emerges, it won't be in keeping with Doha's original purpose - a trade agreement that will genuinely boost economies in the developing world, reports the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva.

An 'emerging' deal

After four days of deadlock, a compromise emerged on Friday, which is now being reviewed by ministers from some 35 countries.

The proposed settlement, brokered by Pascal Lamy, the head of the World Trade Organization, calls for cutting limits of European farm subsidies by 80% and US payments by 70% to about $14.5bn.

However, this would not mean the US would have to cut its actual spending on support to farmers, which totalled about $9bn last year.

The compromise proposal also involves cuts in tariffs on agricultural imports and on industrial goods.

In another area of contention, Mr Mandelson said the EU would offer 80,000 temporary visas a year for working in the services sector.

And US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the US would extend the number of sectors open to foreign workers.

Such moves were welcomed by developing countries, such as India.

"These are constructive signs," said Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath. "There is good movement by the United States and EU... the process of engagement is continuing."

And Brazil's foreign minister said there had been a "good atmosphere".

"Everybody there was speaking about services and trying to be as positive as each one can be without any attempt to spoil the game," said Celso Amorim.

Caution in Europe

But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had "deep concern" about the plan.

Following a telephone discussion, the two leaders stressed "the absolute necessity for Europe of a positive and balanced result which offers European citizens benefits in regard to the sacrifices" which might be required.

"We have a couple of issues and one, of course, is agriculture," said Irish Deputy Prime Minister Mary Coughlan.

"And we don't see the balance in Nama (non-agricultural market access)."

But European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said: "A huge majority of member states supported the Commission... on the basis of the paper on the table, to continue negotiations."

And Mr Mandelson stressed again that the core principles of the proposed deal must stand and said he was "moderately encouraged" by the talks on Saturday.

"I heard some interesting signals from India, [a] couple of things from China, one in particular that I want to specify, to follow up," he added.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

Police in Austria may have missed a chance to capture one of the world's most wanted men last year.

Officers apparently questioned war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic during a raid on a flat in Vienna while looking for a Serb man suspected of murder.

When the officers saw images of Karadzic after his capture this week they recognised him as the man from the flat and contacted the Interior Ministry, an Austrian newspaper said.

According to local reports, the fugitive had been living in the apartment for around three months.

Police are believed to have encountered Karadzic when they raided the apartment of the girlfriend of a Serb man suspected of having shot dead another Serb in a Vienna cafe in May 2007.

When the police asked him to identify himself, he is reported to have shown a Croat passport under the name 'Petar Glumac', and explained calmly that he was in Vienna for training.

The Austrian Interior Ministry confirmed the raid, which took place on May 4, 2007, and said policemen who took part in it recognised Karadzic as the man they saw in the apartment when they saw his pictures after his capture.

Karadzic, who vanished in 1996, was captured in Belgrade earlier this week disguised as a doctor.

Serb authorities said the 63-year-old, who had been indicted for genocide during the Bosnia wars, was barely recognisable in his white long beard.


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[Black Widow]

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Three adults and a two-year-old boy have died in a crash in Scotland.


The two-vehicle collision occurred yesterday around 3.15pm on the main Perth to Inverness road in the Highlands.

A Dutch-registered Volvo estate and a pick-up truck are said to have burst into flames after the crash on the A9 at The Slochd, north of Aviemore.

The crash also left a woman and a girl injured.

They were in the Volvo, along with a man who died and the boy.

The two adults in the truck were killed, as were three of their four dogs.

The woman and girl were taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

Parts of the A9 have a reputation as being among the most dangerous stretches of trunk road in the UK.


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[Black Widow]

A man has been shot dead in east London.

Scotland Yard said officers were called to reports of shots being fired in Cable Street, Limehouse, early on Sunday morning.

Police and London Ambulance Service found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man, who was in his 20s, has not yet been identified.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the shooting will be investigated by officers from Operation Trident, which investigates gun crime among young black people.


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Four swimmers have drowned and three are missing after two days of treacherous currents around New York City and neighbouring Long Island in the United States.

The missing include a 10-year-old girl who had been playing in the waters off Coney Island, a popular beach resort in the Big Apple.

In Long Beach, a tourist destination in Long Island, a swimmer died after he was spotted struggling over 100 metres from the shore.

Another man drowned at the same beach the day before while playing ball games in shallow water. A teenager who was playing with him is still missing.

Also on Long Island, 42-year-old man died after swimming at a beach in East Quogue. A fourth swimmer drowned at Sandy Bar Beach on Long Island's East End.

Another missing person is a 23-year-old man who was swept away off Jacob Riis Beach in Queens, a borough of New York City.

The Coast Guard has called off his search after spending 23 hours scouring the surrounding area. A friend who tried to save had to be rescued by firefighters.

Authorities have said the spate of swimmers being swept away is unprecedented.

Lond Island Police spokesman Bruce Meyer said he "cannot recall there ever being back-to-back situations like this."

A US National Weather Service meteorologist, Jim Connolly, has said the rough seas were due to a strong storm system that brought eight-foot waves to the area.


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Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has waded into the row over Gordon Brown's future - calling on colleagues to end the plot to unseat him.

He urged Cabinet ministers to end speculation over a leadership challenge, saying there was no-one in the party to match the PM's political experience.

MPs are said to be collecting names to back Justice Secretary Jack Straw as the next leader after new polls suggested Mr Brown faces certain defeat at the next election.

Mr Prescott told Sky News: "It's my judgment that not one of them, at this point in time, has the ability or the experience to deal with the international problems that Gordon Brown can.

"So can I suggest that we all let Gordon have a good holiday with Sarah and the boys. Enjoy it. He'll come back, renewed, refreshed and ready for us to lead that fight.

"And I must say to some of those who are talking to the media - could they take a holiday, stop talking to them in this silly season.

"If you really want to campaign, go out and campaign for a Labour fourth term - not a fourth leader."

Sky News political correspondent Peter Spencer said he did not think Mr Prescott's intervention would be enough to stifle the conjecture, but might embarrass some involved in the secret briefings.

He added: "I don't think it'll be enough to put the speculation off. Frankly I don't think a Holocaust will be enough to put the speculation off. But certainly it will have some of those people in the Cabinet squirming."

Former Cabinet minister David Blunkett has also warned backbench colleagues demanding a challenge to "grow up".

"The issues that affect people are not ones which divide the party or Gordon Brown from any potential successor," he said.


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Taleban fighters have been prevented from taking over a small Afghan town centre close to Pakistan's border, Nato and Afghan government officials say.

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Nato forces said they were called in to help Afghan national police in Spera in the south-eastern province of Khost.

This was after they were attacked by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Khost's governor said 50 to 70 fighters had been killed; Nato said the number was in double figures. There is no independent verification.

Border tension

Both Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) and the Afghan government said about 100 insurgents had amassed in the district close to the border with Pakistan in the early hours of the morning and appeared to be trying to take over the town centre.

An Isaf statement said helicopter gunships were brought in and the militants surrounded.

It described how some fighters took cover in a nearby building which was then struck by missiles. The fighting from the air and on the ground went on for some hours.

The governor added that many fighters had fled into local villages and air strikes were then stopped to prevent civilian casualties.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of clashes and bombings in eastern Afghanistan this year.

It is thought many of the fighters openly cross over the border from Pakistan.

There has been increasing tension between the two countries over the issue, and international military commanders express frustration that they are trying to fight an insurgency that is constantly fuelled by fighters who cannot be targeted on the other side of the border.


BBC News

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The body's own immune system may cause pre-eclampsia, a common condition which is potentially dangerous for pregnant women and their babies.

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Pre-eclampsia affects one in 20 pregnancies, but experiments on mice in the US found that it could be triggered by immune molecules.

This could potentially help lead to new treatments and tests for the condition, reports the journal Nature Medicine.

A pre-eclampsia charity said other evidence hinted at the immune link.

It is hard to predict which women will be affected by pre-eclampsia, although those with a family history of the condition, or who have had it in previous pregnancies, are at greater risk.

It generally starts after the 20th week of pregnancy, and warning signs can include high blood pressure and protein in the urine.

However, it is not easily treated, and if it worsens, it can place the health of both mother and unborn baby at risk. Often, the only solution is to deliver the baby, even prematurely.

The causes are not understood, but scientists at the University of Texas believe the response of the mother's immune system to the pregnancy may hold the key.

To test this, they took immune molecules called "autoantibodies" from women with pre-eclampsia and injected them into mice.

The mice started to develop a condition very similar to pre-eclampsia in humans - they had high blood pressure, protein in the urine, and telltale abnormalities in the placenta, the organ grown by the mother to supply the foetus with oxygen and nutrients.

When the Texan team also gave mice a drug which blocked the action of these autoantibodies, this condition did not develop, supporting the theory that they played a part in the disease.

They suggested that as well as revealing something about the cause of the disease, it might point to potential tests and treatments.

Drug danger

However, Professor James Walker, consultant obstetrician at St James's University Hospital in Leeds and spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said he would need further evidence to be convinced that these molecules were the direct cause of the condition in humans.

He said: "It's very interesting research, and there is other research suggesting that the immune system is involved in pre-eclampsia, but we don't know how much this is the cause of the condition, and how much is an adaptation by the mother to counter its effects.

"Unfortunately, you can't just give the drug they used here in pregnant women, as about a third of the babies will die."

Dr Margaret Macdonald, the chief executive of the charity Action on Pre-eclampsia, said there had been very little progress in half a century of research into the causes of the condition.

"The possibility that it is auto-immune is supported by other, curious evidence, that women with many sexual partners have a higher risk of pre-eclampsia than women with few, long-term partners," she said.

"This suggests immune stimulation by 'foreign material' might be involved."


BBC News

[OMEN]

BREAKING NEWS: The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd has been placed on trading halt at its own request, the stock exchange says.

Seperately, the group has forecast its 2008 annual profit before provisions to rise by around eight per cent and its annual cash profit to exceed A$3 billion (NZ$3.90 billion).

The bank said credit impairment costs would remain high in the second half as a result of the ongoing deterioration in global credit markets, a weak New Zealand economy and a softening Australian economy.

Provisions in the second half are likely to be about A$1.2 billion, up from A$980 million in the first half, ANZ said.

The bank said it expected its full-year dividend to be maintained at A$1.36 per share, fully franked.

ANZ expects 2008 cash EPS to fall by between 20 to 25 percent, reflecting the impact of the high provisions.

The bank has reset its collective provision above one percent of credit risk weighted assets, which it said was a prudent response to the deteriorating credit environment.

The second half collective provision charge is expected to be A$375 million (NZ$487.90 million), from A$376 million in the first half.

For individual provisions, ANZ said known credit issues had deteriorated including "certain commercial property clients, securities lending and Bill Express".

Second half individual provisions are expected to be around A$850 million, from A$604 million in the first half.

"ANZ's underlying business is continuing to deliver a solid performance, and we expect a cash profit of over A$3 billion in 2008," chief executive Mike Smith said.

"However we need to recognise where we are at with legacy issues in institutional and the change in the economic cycle.

"As the deterioration in global credit markets continues and the slowing of the global economy plays out in Australia and in New Zealand, there are flow-on effects for our commercial portfolios and to a lesser extent the personal portfolios."

- Reuters and AAP

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[lɐuǝɯo⊥ǝɥԀ]

A huge fire has destroyed the historic Grand Pier at Weston-super-Mare.

Dozens of firefighters fought to tackle the blaze which took hold of the partly wooden pier in the North Somerset seaside resort at about 0700 BST.

No-one was injured in the fire, though black smoke and flames were said to be visible from as far away as Cardiff.

BBC Radio Bristol reporter Nigel Dando, who is at the scene, said: "There'll be nothing left after this fire, it's a desperately sad scene."

Dee Williams, deputy manager of the Grand Atlantic Hotel, which lies 200 yards from the pier, said: "It is an inferno. There will be no pier by tonight.

"There are loud bangs going off, which could be fireworks because there was a display on there recently. The tide is out and I think they are having difficulty getting water to it.

"My night porter spotted the flames at 7.15am. There are lots of people about, watching the fire, and the police have blocked off the road.

"The pier was bought by new owners and done up recently, it is part of our identity and would really affect trade if we were to lose it."

Jacquie Whelan, owner of Sunfold Hotel on Beach Road, said: "I just looked out of the window... when I woke up and could not believe what I was seeing.

"It is the most horrendous thing. There are massive red flames, hundreds of feet in the air, all over the pier.

"We are a five minute walk to the pier and from where I am standing it just looks like a huge bonfire. It is not going to survive."

Bruce Watson, who works at the Sovereign shopping centre opposite the Grand Pier, said: "The fire has taken complete control of the pier, they won't be able to repair it.

"It's just a shell virtually now, the flames are hundreds of feet high and the smoke into thousands of feet."

Police have placed a cordon around the pier and beach and advised people to avoid the area.

The quarter-of-a-mile-long pier, which attracts thousands of visitors a year, reopened in April after a massive revamp.

It first opened in 1904 and was later bought by the Brenner family who sold it earlier this year in a multi-million pound deal to brother and sister Michelle and Kerry Michael.

The Michael family's regeneration of the site has included a new funfair and go-kart track and there were also plans to open restaurants and offer Victorian-style shows.

Relatives of Mr Michael said he left the country yesterday for a holiday in Spain.

Speaking from his home in Bleadon, near Weston-super-Mare, a woman, who asked not to be named, said Mr Michael was aware of the situation and was likely to return home as soon as possible.

The cause of the fire is not yet clear.

Foundations safe

Stephanie Mounsey, from Avon Fire and Rescue, said the structure, which is supported by iron girders, was not at risk of collapse.

She said fire officers were first notified of a blaze at 0645 BST.

Ms Mounsey added: "There is plenty of water on it and things look like they are getting under control.

"We believe the foundations should be safe."

Rod Brenner, who owned the pier until six months ago when he sold it to the current owners, said: "I think that what has happened is, fortunately it had a very thick hardwood floor, and I think that has held, from what I can see here.

"The entire pavillion has gone admittedly, and it'll be obviously a huge project to rebuild it, which will take a considerable amount of time.

"I mean, when it burnt down last time, in 1930, it took three years and they probably moved a bit quicker then than we do nowadays."

Christopher Donkin, manager of Seaquarium aquarium in Marine Parade, some 500 yards from the pier, was alerted to the fire by a colleague as he drove to work.

All those people's livelihoods and businesses - where will they go?
Christopher Donkin, Seaquarium

He said: "Fortunately, we're not in danger, no other properties are in any other danger.

"The fire brigade have put a wall of water along the walkway between the seafront and the end of the pier.

"Traffic this morning was absolutely chock-a-block.

"When I first saw the fire, to be honest my first thoughts were for the livelihoods of people who work here.

"It's Weston's number one attraction. It's full of childhood memories.

"All those people's livelihoods and businesses - where will they go?"

Tory MP for Weston-super-Mare John Penrose said he was "shocked and dismayed" by the scenes at the Grand Pier.

"The Grand Pier is one of the icons of Weston's seafront," he said.

"Anybody who has ever visited the town or lives here permanently has probably strolled along the boardwalk, eating candyfloss, to play on the amusements at the far end.

"Kerry and Michelle Michael have been investing huge amounts of their own time and money into regenerating the pier. This is a tragedy for the town as a whole and for them in particular.

"The only piece of good news is that there are no reports of casualties. At least there is something to be thankful for."

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thank goodness no one got killed, thanks for posting.

[Black Widow]

PICS OF THE FIRE (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Weston-Super-Mare-Pier-Fire/Media-Gallery/200807415057868)

[Black Widow]

A British newlywed has been shot dead and her husband critically injured in an apparent robbery while honeymooning in Antigua.

Catherine Mullany, formerly Bowen, died from her injuries after the attack in a hotel on the idyllic island.

Her husband Benjamin, of Pontardawe, near Swansea, Wales, is fighting for his life in a local hospital.

The couple, both reportedly 31, were staying in a cottage at the Cocos Hotel when they were attacked in what local police said may have been a robbery.

The Antigua Sun reported that Mrs Mullany was shot in the head while her husband was hit in the neck. He was taken to hospital in a comatose state and is brain dead, Sky sources said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene, the paper said.

Antigua tourism minister Harold Lovell said the shooting took place shortly before 5am on Sunday.

He told Sky News "no stone would be left unturned" in the investigation.

"The police are still obviously trying to work out the motive, but they think robbery will be the motive," he said.

"It is something that is being fully investigated by the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda. They will leave no stone unturned."

The Antigua Sun said the couple were staying for two weeks and had been due to return to the UK today.

Two other shootings were also reported at the weekend, it said.

Andy Liburd, the paper's news editor, told Sky News gun crime was on the rise on an island normally associated with paradise.

"This has really sent shock waves through the entire community," he said.

"This is not the sort of crime Antigua is accustomed to but crime is on the increase and police need to step up their resources."

The parents of Catherine Mullany, have spoken of their devastation in a statement issued through South Wales Police.

It said: "We are deeply shocked and devastated at the recent events in Antigua and are struggling to comprehend what has happened to Ben and Catherine.

"We appreciate the support of our family and friends and would ask the media to respect our privacy at this difficult time."

Mrs Mullany is a registered doctor who graduated from the University of London in 2002, according to General Medical Council records.

She worked in the paediatric department at Swansea's Singleton Hospital at the time of her death but was training as a general practitioner.

Paul Williams, chief executive of ABM University NHS Trust, said: "She was a popular, talented and caring young doctor with a wonderful career ahead of her."

Mrs Mullany's uncle, Gareth Jones, said his own son regarded the resort as too violent after he honeymooned there five years ago.

"He and his wife felt Antigua was too violent. They didn't like to go out at night," he said.


sky news

[Black Widow]

Proposed reforms of the law on homicide in England and Wales could change the circumstances under which a murder charge is reduced to manslaughter.

Defendants who successfully claim they were "seriously wronged" by the victim could now be convicted of manslaughter.

Under the plan, long-term domestic abuse victims can also use a partial defence of "fear of serious violence".

Attorney General Baroness Scotland said the proposed changes would bring murder laws "right up to date".

The plans face public consultation before new legislation is introduced.

They follow a 2006 report from the Law Commission which made wide-ranging recommendations for changes to legislation.

The proposals suggest the current defence of provocation should be scrapped.

However, the new defence in its place - that "words and conduct" left the killer "seriously wronged" - should only be available in exceptional cases, the report says.

The Ministry of Justice has stressed that the law would be changed to make it clear that someone who discovers their partner is having an affair would be unable to argue they had been "seriously wronged".

One of the changes due is to the so-called "provocation defence".

This allows men who kill their wife or partner in a fit of jealousy to plead provocation but does not currently apply to women who murder someone who has been abusing them for many years.

But barrister Geoffrey Robertson, QC, told the BBC that the changes did not address all his concerns:

"Quite a few of these reforms are moderate and sensible, but the real problem with the law of murder is that it doesn't distinguish - it has a mandatory life sentence.

"Any mandatory sentence is unjust because it doesn't distinguish between the terrorist and the gangland executioner and the mercy killer at the other end of the scale, who maybe doesn't deserve to go to prison at all, but has to be sentenced to life imprisonment, and the domestic killings."

This change would mean that men and women facing domestic violence would be able to argue they were forced to kill their tormentor.

Solicitor Harriet Wistrich, founder of Justice for Women, said: "It will really help move things forward so we have a defence for the modern age that helps those who have suffered long-term abuse to use a defence to they are not convicted of murder and go to prison for life."

Government documents say current laws have made it too easy for men to kill their wives and claim they were provoked by the victim's infidelity.

Legislation has restricted the use of partial defences by women with abusive partners.

Justice Minister Maria Eagle said recent cases had seen judges and juries "trying to stretch the current law".

"With these changes, the law will be clearer," she said.

The minister said the proposed partial defence of long-term abuse marked a "substantial change", although she stressed that the government "would not want to introduce anything that would allow cold, calculating killers to get away with it".

Under the proposals, the partial defence of diminished responsibility would be abolished and replaced with a new defence based on "recognised medical conditions".

But leading barrister Geoffrey Robertson criticised the plans, saying they did not go far enough.

The mandatory life sentence for any murder conviction should be abolished, he told the BBC's Today.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news

[JohnCenaFan28]

OMG, that's awful news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

A strong earthquake has been felt in the US city of Los Angeles.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44874000/gif/_44874461_la_quake2_0708.gif

The quake made buildings in the city shake and was felt as far south as San Diego, witnesses say, but so far there are no reports of casualties or damage.

The US Geological Survey said the tremor had a magnitude of 5.4, after earlier measures of 5.6 and 5.8.

The epicentre of the quake was 29 miles (46km) south-east of central Los Angeles, near Chino Hills in San Bernardino County, officials said.

"It was dramatic. The whole building moved and it lasted for a while," said Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, who was in the sheriff's Monterey Park offices east of Los Angeles.

There have been no reports of power cuts in the area, although telephone services were disrupted because of a surge in demand on the network, witnesses reported.

More than 20 aftershocks were reported following the quake, the strongest measured at 3.8.

In 1994, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Northridge, California, killed 72 people, injured another 9,000 and caused $25bn (£12.5bn) worth of damage in the area.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Seven Bosnian Serbs have been convicted of genocide and jailed over the massacre of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) in Srebrenica in 1995.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44752000/jpg/_44752117_caskets_ap226b.jpg

After a two-year trial, the Bosnian war crimes court in Sarajevo ruled that the men helped in the systematic murder of more than 1,000 Bosniaks in one day.

In all, as many as 8,000 men and boys were killed in a week in Srebrenica.

The ruling comes a week after the capture of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, also accused of genocide.

Mr Karadzic is expected to be sent soon to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague to face charges over his involvement in the Srebrenica massacre.

The trial in Sarajevo was the first to be held in Bosnia over crimes committed at Srebrenica, and the first for genocide. Previous such trials have been held at The Hague.

'Permanent extermination'

Eleven men were originally charged with genocide in the case - all of whom were police officers or soldiers with the Bosnian Serb wartime authorities.

Four were acquitted and the other seven were given sentences ranging from 38 to 42 years.

"The defendants knew that by killing the Bosnian Muslim men, they participated in the permanent extermination of Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica," said judge Hilmo Vucinic.

"They consciously killed hundreds of Bosnian Muslims with the aim of permanently removing Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica."

The group of seven played a part in separating more than 1,000 Bosniak men from their families.

The court said that the murdered men were among a group trying to escape from Srebrenica after it came under Bosnian Serb control.

The men were told they would be taken to safety if they surrendered.

Instead, they were taken by bus or on foot to the warehouse of an agricultural co-operative in the village of Kravica before being murdered in a single day.

The convicted men either carried out executions themselves using firearms or hand grenades, or prevented people from escaping from the warehouse.

Killing spree

Munira Subasic, who lost her husband and son in Srebrenica and who runs an association of survivors, said she was pleased with the verdict but that her pain "can never be healed".

"The mothers of these men still have their sons, their wives still have husbands, their children still have fathers and I am still looking for my son's bones," she told AFP news agency.

The massacre was part of a week-long killing spree by Bosnian Serb forces, who overran the UN-protected Srebrenica enclave.

Milos Stupar and Milenko Trifunovic were commanders of special police force units, Milovan Matic was a member of the Bosnian Serb army and the remaining men were special police force officers.

All but two of the men were were born in Bosnia-Hercegovina - Dragisa Zivanovic was born in Serbia and Branislav Medan was born in Croatia.

Five former Bosnian Serb officers have already been jailed by the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague over the Srebrenica atrocities, while further suspects are awaiting trial.

A Serbian court has also jailed four former Serb paramilitaries for their role in the Srebrenica massacre.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

Published: Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 1:42PM

A paedophile who posed as a pupil at a school has admitted abducting and having sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl.

James Chester, 22, was remanded in custody at Portsmouth Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the two offences.

He was charged following the abduction of the teenage girl from Portsmouth on August 5 last year. They were found two days later in Northern Ireland.

Judge Graham White ordered two psychiatric reports to be prepared on Chester who will be sentenced in September.

The family of the girl had believed at the time that Chester was a schoolboy.

Her father said: "I hope he gets locked away for a long time. What he has done to my daughter and our family is unforgivable. She's only a young girl. We welcomed him into our family and we were extremely nice to him."

"All the time we thought he was someone else. We trusted him and he wasn't anything he said he was," he said.

Chester had previously used a fake birth certificate and a letter of support to become a pupil at St Edmund's Catholic School in Arundel Street, Portsmouth, in September 2005, when he was 19 years old.

He posed as a year 10 pupil for three weeks before staff became aware of his true age and he was reported to the police.

His victim was not a pupil at this school.

A year later, Chester tried to join the City of Portsmouth Boys School but background checks were conducted and by the time Chester tried to enrol in September 2006 he had been discovered.

Acting sergeant Liam Davies, of Hampshire police, said: "We are pleased that Chester has decided to own up to his responsibilities and acknowledge that both his actions and behaviour were totally unacceptable.

"The two offences to which Chester pleaded guilty are of a very serious nature.

"The result of his actions has no doubt had a damaging effect on all of the parties involved.

"At least with this early plea, the family will not have to go through any further stress than what they have already endured."


ITV News

[The RKO]

I hate pedos there are just some sick people in the world.

[Black Widow]

A Florida court has refused to reduce the £250,000 bond held on the mother of a missing two-year-old girl, hours after pictures emerged of her partying a week into the toddler's disappearance.

Casey Anthony is being held on suspicion of child neglect, making false statements and obstructing an investigation.

Police say the 22-year-old mother lied to them and didn't report daughter Caylee missing for more than a month.

She hasn't been charged with her daughter's disappearance, but prosecutors call her a person of interest in what is beginning to look like a murder investigation.

The 5th District Court of Appeal denied Anthony's request to lower her bonds to £5,000 but her attorney said she planned to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.

Pictures have emerged showing Anthony, from Orlando, partying on June 20. But on July 15 she went to police and told them Caylee had been missing since June 9.

The photos show Casey Anthony smiling and posing with various people at an Orlando club.

In transcripts of a 911 call, Caylee's grandmother tells an operator she thought her own daughter's car had been used to transport a body.

"There's something wrong," Cindy Anthony told the operator.

"I found my daughter's car today, and it smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car."

In three 911 calls, she said she wanted to press charges against her daughter Casey, 22, for "grand theft", then in a second call she said she had someone in her home who needed to be arrested in relation to a missing toddler.

Casey Anthony claims her babysitter took the child and she did not report the girl missing for a month because she thought she could find the pair.


sky news

[Black Widow]

A bottlenose whale which became stranded twice on sandbanks in Hampshire has been put down.

Around 50 volunteers and rescue workers tried to save the whale after it became stuck on harbour flats in Langstone.

Blood test results showed it was suffering irreversible kidney failure.

Vets Paul Jepson and Rob Deaville, from the Zoological Society of London, a British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) vet and team of marine medics carried out the mercy killing.

The whale's kidneys failed after its organs were compressed under its body weight, leading to a build-up of toxins.

Earlier, the northern bottlenose whale, like the one stranded in London in 2006, had been stuck on harbour flats in Langstone, Hampshire, for about 12 hours.

Experts were on their way to put down the marine mammal when it was successfully refloated.

But it became stranded again on East Winner sand bank, Hayling Island.

BDMLR organisation director, Faye Archell, said that because the tide came in, "the animal was having great difficulty in righting itself and water was starting to lap around the blow hole".

She explained: "A decision was taken to put the animal to sleep on welfare grounds.

"As they made their way to the animal it did manage to right itself and it is now free swimming but in fairly shallow water so right now the prognosis is not good."

The deep water mammals are usually found in the north Atlantic off the Bay of Biscay.


sky news

[The RKO]

It was the right thing to do.If they didn't do it it would have a slow and painful death.

[Jodes]

this happend in the town next to mine. there is no freaking way Casey does not know what happend to Caylee. just today they took some evidence out of the grandparents house. mark my words in a few we will learn Casey either killed Caylee or sold her. i have been keeping up with this story.

[Black Widow]

CHANDIGARH, India - At least 145 people, mostly women and children, were crushed to death under the feet of thousands of pilgrims in a stampede at a temple in northern India on Sunday, police said.

"We have confirmation now that 145 people have been killed," Daljit Singh Manhas, a senior police officer told Reuters by telephone.

Chanting and singing hymns, Hindu worshippers were snaking up a 2.5-mile trail, leading to a hill-top temple in Himachal Pradesh state, when part of iron railings on one side of the road broke, causing the stampede.

Thinking there was a landslide, the pilgrims panicked and started fleeing down the hillside, trampling falling women and children, police and witnesses said.

Earlier, The Associated Press quoted a policeman as saying that at least 68 people, including 30 children were killed at the mountaintop Hindu temple. But the figure changed quickly.

"The injured have been taken to two places and the toll could be more as we are awaiting news from other hospitals," Manhas added.

Thousands of worshippers had gathered at the temple in Bilaspur to pray to a Hindu goddess during an annual festival.

Witnesses said people jumped over broken railings and bodies to save themselves. Children lost their grip on their mothers' hands and were crushed under the feet of scared pilgrims.

"Many children and women were shouting for help and I saw people tumbling down the hillside," pilgrim Dev Swarup, 48, told Reuters by telephone from Bilaspur.

"There were rumors of boulders coming down on us and we all ran like the others," said Swarup, his voice choked with emotion.

'Too many rumors'
Slippers, parts of torn clothes and bags with flowers and offerings lay along the narrow path winding up the hill, television pictures showed.

People crowded into hospitals looking for injured relatives.

A television channel showed a young women pilgrim pleading for water in a corner as rescuers brought more injured people on stretchers for treatment.

More than 10,000 people were trying to get into the temple and police had to struggle desperately to keep the situation under control.

"There were too many rumors, and we tried our best to keep things under control, but it went out of hand," one officer said.

Most of the worshippers were from the neighboring state of Punjab, with numbers rising sharply at the weekend.

Stampedes at temples are not uncommon in India where thousands of people gather to pray during festivals. In 2005, about 265 pilgrims were killed in a stampede near a temple in the western state of Maharashtra.


MSNBC

[Black Widow]

A Brazilian man accused of murdering and chopping up a British teenage girl after a four-day cocaine binge tried to bribe officers to let him go, police said.

Mohamed D'Ali Carvalho Santos, 20, was recorded by police offering to bribe them with £22,000 to let him off the charge of killing 17-year-old Cara Burke.

However, instead of taking the bribe, detectives broadcast the attempt on national television - with one saying: "The biggest reward we could receive is to see a psychopath like yourself behind bars."

Police also said Santos bragged about the murder in a text message to his brother, Bruce Lee, who lives with their mother in London.

The message, accompanied by a smiling face, read in English: "The bitch is in the bag."

The mobile phone was also used to photograph Miss Burke's severed head after he allegedly placed it on top of her torso along with a bloody butcher's knife.

Miss Burke's torso was discovered stuffed in a suitcase and dumped on a riverbank in the central Brazilian city of Goiania on Monday.

Police believe Santos killed Miss Burke on Saturday after she threatened to tell his parents he was a cocaine-addicted drug dealer.

He told reporters an argument started after Miss Burke threw a plate of cocaine on the floor.

Police said after the murder he went out to a funk concert before returning to cut up the body.

Lawyer Odair de Meneses said his client had confessed, but could not be held fully responsible because he had been taking drugs "non-stop" for four days before her death.

Santos has reportedly said he cut up the body because he was desperate to remove it from the apartment.

He is quoted as saying the dismembering process was "just like cutting beef, except for the bleeding".

Firefighters are continuing the search for Miss Burke's head and limbs, which Santos reportedly said he put into bin bags and threw them from a bridge in a remote area.


sky news

[bad_meetz_evil]

I saw this maniac on the news.

Lol, I actually laughed at the message.

But yeah if you're in a room with a drug addict, yet drug dealer, you should have just run, not argue with the person.

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's just disgusting...

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

This sounds like an interesting story... I'll have to check back on the info on it later on.

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's terrible news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

A US military jury has retired to consider its verdict after the two-week trial of Osama Bin Laden's former driver at Guantanamo Bay.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44855000/jpg/_44855758_hamdan_afp_226b.jpg

Yemeni Salim Hamdan faces life in prison if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism.

In closing arguments, the prosecution said he played a "vital role" in the conspiracy behind the 9/11 attacks.

But defence lawyers said he was a low-level employee, who was "not even an al-Qaeda member".

Mr Hamdan, who was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, has pleaded not guilty and his defence team say he worked for wages, not to wage war on America.

Mr Hamdan has acknowledged working for Bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1997 to 2001 for $200 (£99) a month, but denies being part of al-Qaeda or taking part in any attacks.

He is the first prisoner to be tried by the US for war crimes since World War II.

The jury ended its initial deliberations after 45 minutes on Monday, and will resume on Tuesday morning.

'Guilt by association'

In its closing argument, the prosecution described Mr Hamdan as a loyal supporter of Osama Bin Laden, who protected the al-Qaeda leader knowing his goals included killing Americans.

"Al-Qaeda aimed to literally take down the West, to kill thousands, and they have; to create economic havoc, and they have.

"They needed enthusiastic, uncontrollably enthusiastic warriors, like that accused, right there, Salim Hamdan," said justice department prosecutor John Murphy.

Lawyers for Mr Hamdan said not one witness had testified that Mr Hamdan played any part in terrorist attacks. They questioned the fairness of the trial, which began on 21 July.

"This is a classic case of guilt by association," said Lieutenant Commander Brian Mizer, a military defence lawyer appointed by the Pentagon.

"Mr Hamdan is not an al-Qaeda warrior, he is not al-Qaeda's last line of defence - he's not even an al-Qaeda member," said Mr Mizer.

Black hole

About 270 suspects remain in detention in Guantanamo Bay.

Among the dozens of other inmates due to be tried there in the coming months are men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks.

Human rights campaigners have accused the court of operating in a legal black hole.

They and the other accused will be watching the out come of the Hamdan trial closely, correspondents say.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The US and Britain have threatened Iran with new economic sanctions if it does not respond positively to incentives for Tehran to halt uranium enrichment.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44891000/jpg/_44891019_jalili_ap266b.jpg

The US said the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany had agreed they would have no choice but to take further punitive measures.

Britain said it would back sanctions if Iran failed to give what it called an unambiguous response by Tuesday.

The move follows "inconclusive" talks between the EU and Tehran.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, spoke by phone to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana earlier on Monday.

Mr Solana had given Iran until last Saturday to respond to an offer not to impose further sanctions against Iran in return for a freeze on its uranium enrichment programme.

A spokesman for Mr Solana described the talks as "inconclusive". Mr Jalili said Iran would issue a formal written response to the offer on Tuesday.

Iran says its nuclear programme is for entirely peaceful purposes, while the US and its allies believe it could be used to develop a nuclear weapon.

No imminent crisis

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US - along with Germany set the offer in June in an effort to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment programme.

Last month, the Bush administration's third most senior state department official travelled to Switzerland to participate in a meeting between European and Iranian officials.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says all the signs were of one last diplomatic push to try to win over the Iranians before a significant toughening of sanctions.

That may be the game-plan in London and Washington, and doubtless in Paris and Berlin, but it may not be the way things are seen in Beijing and Moscow, our correspondent says.

What Iran says in its written response matters because this will determine how far Russia and China are willing to go to bring in additional UN Security Council measures, he adds.

The Americans and the Europeans could choose to reinforce sanctions of their own.

But our correspondent says the Iranians have clearly made a judgement that despite all the talk of potential air strikes against its nuclear facilities, the US presidential campaign, Israel's political uncertainty and high oil prices mean that a crisis is not imminent.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

A man accused of beheading another passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada has pleaded in court for someone to "please kill me".

Vince Weiguang Li is accused of stabbing 22-year-old carnival worker Tim McLean to death in front of terrified fellow passengers.

He is then said to have cut his head off and eating some of his flesh. The attack appears to have been completely unprovoked.

At the Provincial Court of Manitoba prosecutors asked the judge for a mental evaluation on Li, who emigrated to Canada from China in 2004.

Prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn revealed new details about the attack, which occurred last Wednesday night.

She said Li had a plastic bag containing his victim's ear, nose and part of a mouth in his pocket when officers arrested him.

The only response officers received from him was: "'I have to stay on the bus forever."

Li is charged with second-degree murder and is yet to enter a plea. Since his arrest he has refused to speak to prosecutors or to his court-appointed lawyer.

When asked by Provincial Court of Manitoba Judge Michel Chartier if he wanted a lawyer, Li shook his head and then quietly said: "Please kill me."

Ms Dalmyn said many heard the plea, adding: "There were some people in the courtroom that were taken aback by it.

"Those were the only words I heard him utter in the courtroom."

Li is due back in court on September 8 when a new lawyer could be appointed for him.

Thirty-seven passengers were aboard the Greyhound from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, as it travelled at night along a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles from Portage La Prairie.

Some were napping and others watching the movie The Legend of Zorro on bus television screens when Li attacked McLean, allegedly stabbing him dozens of times.

As horrified passengers fled the bus, Li severed McLean's head, displaying it to some of the passengers outside the bus, witnesses said. He then began hacking at the body.

A police officer at the scene reported seeing the attacker hacking off pieces of the victim's body and eating them, according to a police tape leaked on the internet.

A church pastor, Tom Castor, who helped hire Li soon after he immigrated in 2004 with his wife, Anna, said the man never showed any sign of anger or emotional problems when he worked there as a custodian.

In the wake of the attack, Greyhound scrapped a billboard ad campaign that extolled the relaxing side of bus travel.

The ad said: "There's a reason you've never heard of 'bus rage'."


sky news

[Black Widow]

Detectives are interviewing Clark Rockefeller - the man accused of kidnapping his seven-year-old daughter - about a suspected double murder.

Two murder detectives from Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are to fly to Boston to speak to Rockefeller about the crime.

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the LA County Sheriff Department confirmed Rockefeller was a "person of interest" in the case of Jonathan and Linda Sohus - a couple from San Marino, California who were reported missing in 1985.

Accoring to media reports a man named Christopher Chichester lived on the Sohus property at the time, but also disappeared and was never questioned by police.

Mr Whitmore said: "We want to find out if he (Rockefeller) is indeed Christopher Chichester.

"And if so, if there's anything he can tell us about the disappearance and possible homicide of the Sohuses."

In 1994, three plastic bags containing human remains, found by workers digging a swimming pool in San Marino, were linked to the Sohus case but never identified.

Rockefeller's attorney, Stephen Hrones, denied his client had any link to the California case and said Clark Rockefeller was his legal name.

Rockefeller - who is also known by several other aliases - appeared at Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday on charges related to the July 27 disappearance of his daughter, Reigh Boss.

Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said they have no record of him before 1993 and said Rockefeller has claimed he does not remember details ranging from where he is from, where his parents are and even whether he is from the US.

Assistant district attorney David Deakin said in court: "At this point, he provided essentially no biographical data about himself before 1993."

He added that after thousands of hours' work by the FBI, local and state officials and Homeland Security, authorities were still unsure of the details of Rockefeller's real identity.

Police say Rockefeller, 48, snatched his daughter from a Boston street on July 27 in an elaborately-planned kidnapping in which he hired two people to drive them to New York.

He was caught Saturday in Baltimore, where he had bought a home and boat.

Mr Deakin said 300 1oz gold coins and £6,000 in cash also were found in Rockefeller's apartment following his arrest.

In court on Tuesday charges of felony parental kidnapping, assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon were read to Rockefeller.

His lawyer, Stephen Hrones, said his client maintained he did not kidnap his daughter.

His daughter Reigh, known to family and friends as "Snooks", was found in good condition in Baltimore and has been reunited with her mother, Sandra Boss.

A pre-trial hearing for Rockefeller is set for September 3 this year.


sky news

[OMEN]

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has cancelled his scheduled visit to China, a member of his entourage said, as opponents in the coalition government consulted over his possible impeachment.

"We have been told that the president's visit to China has been cancelled," said the official, who had been due to fly with Musharraf on Wednesday to attend opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics and meet with the Chinese leadership.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq confirmed the visit had been called off. The president's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Musharraf, a US ally who came to power as a general in a 1999 coup, has become overwhelmingly unpopular. His allies were defeated in an election in February that stripped him of parliamentary support.

Yet, he has resisted pressure to quit, and has insisted that he was willing to work with the new civilian government.

Asif Ali Zardari, the head of the ruling alliance, met his major coalition partner and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss issues that have bedeviled their four-month-old coalition government.

Sharif said before the talks he was looking for a decisive meeting with Zardari to discuss the contentious issues of Musharraf's impeachment and restoration of Supreme Court judges who were dismissed by the president last November during a brief period of emergency rule.

A spokesman for Zardari's Pakistan People's Party told reporters after Tuesday's meeting the two had reached a consensus on major issues and would meet again on Wednesday for more discussion.

Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew, wants wheels set in motion to impeach the embattled president, but Zardari has until now warded off a confrontation with Musharraf, who neither the army nor the United States wants to see humiliated.

Sharif withdrew his party's ministers from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's cabinet in May, but did not go as far as pulling out of the coalition completely.

The intense uncertainty has taken a toll on Pakistani markets, with the main Karachi Stock Exchange index hitting near 23-month lows earlier this week, while the rupee edged closer to all-time lows posted in early July.

Investors have harboured doubts over whether the civilian coalition government has the ability to handle widening trade and fiscal deficits and inflation at a three-decade high.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Four foreign protesters displaying a "Free Tibet" banner in the Chinese capital were held by police, state media reported, as the Olympic Games torch made its way through the city.

They were "displaying a pro-Tibet independence banner in English," said the brief report from the Xinhua news agency. It did not describe their nationality.

The three men and one woman gathered near the main Bird's Nest Stadium, where the Games will open, and two of the men climbed electricity poles to unfurl the banner, said Xinhua.

Police rushed to the scene after 12 minutes and took them away, the report said.

The Beijing Games torch relay was dogged by protests over Chinese rule in Tibet when it made its way through Paris, London and other cities earlier this year. On Wednesday, the torch began the final stage of its relay through Beijing, under tight security ahead of the Games opening on Friday.

China has accused followers of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, of stirring riots and protests in Tibetan regions in March in a bid to upstage Olympic preparations. The Dalai Lama has denied the claim and said he does not oppose the Games.

But groups campaigning for an independent Tibet have said the Beijing Olympics should be an opportunity to voice criticism of Chinese policy.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Sri Lankan troops killed 42 Tamil Tiger guerrillas in two days of fighting in the north of the island, the military said, pressing on with an offensive against rebel strongholds.

Government jets also bombed a Sea Tiger base in the northern rebel held district of Mullaitivu, destroying two boats.

There was no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils. Independent confirmation of battlefield casualties is not possible, and analysts say both sides tend to exaggerate enemy losses while playing down their own.

"Troops attacked LTTE forward defence line in Muhamalai in seven directions this morning," said a spokesman at the Media Center for National Security. "Monitoring of rebel communications confirmed five LTTE terrorists were killed and 25 others were wounded in the confrontation."

On Tuesday, troops killed 37 rebels in fighting in the northern region. The army lost four soldiers.

Sri Lanka's government is pursuing a strategy to gradually retake the Tiger's northern stronghold and win the 25-year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people.

Last week the government said troops had entered Kilinochchi district where the rebels' de facto capital by the same name is located.

Reuters

[Black Widow]

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FILTHY hospital wards are crawling with rats, cockroaches, flies and maggots, it has been revealed.

Shock new figures show there were 20,000 separate infestations in just over two years.

Virtually every NHS trust in the country has been hit by the stomach-churning crisis.

And experts fear the legions of pests help spread infections in our hospitals — which are already battling superbugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C-diff).

Cases exposed in a bombshell dossier published today by the Conservatives include:


RATS in maternity units;


COCKROACHES found on sick kids’ wards and a urology unit;


MAGGOTS in patients’ slippers and mortuaries;


WARDS “over-run” by mice and ants.


The crisis is so bad that 70 per cent of trusts had to call in pest exterminators 50 OR MORE times between January 2006 and March 2008.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust alone recorded the most incidents.




Concerns

The sickening figures reveal two-thirds of trusts in England had problems with rats, biting insects and fleas.

Six out of 10 had suffered cockroach infestations.

Rat plague ... Cartoon

Rat plague ... Cartoon

Four out of five had reported mice and ants on the wards.

One in 20 had problems with maggots.

Drain flies infested operating theatres at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Fruit flies were found in a “sterile” room at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

And unidentified insects were discovered in operating theatres at Trafford NHS Trust, Greater Manchester.

The scale of the crisis — exposed by Freedom of Information requests — will raise fresh concerns about the state of our hospitals.

The Tories said the revelations would appal patients and their families.

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Labour have said over and over again that they will improve cleanliness in our hospitals but these figures clearly show that they are failing.

“It is difficult for health service estates to maintain a completely pest-free environment but the level and variety of these infestations is concerning.

Hygiene

“We need greater transparency in NHS infection control, and publishing data like this is one way we can drive up overall hygiene standards.”

Advertisement

Hospital bosses last night insisted that they were doing everything they could to control rats, cockroaches and maggots.

The Conservatives contacted all 171 trusts in England about problems with pest control.

A total of 127 — or 74 per cent — responded.

A spokesman for pest experts Rentokil said: “Most buildings attract pests in some form or another and hospitals are no different.

“Large buildings, with many people coming and going, that can be good environments for pests. Hospitals do require ongoing pest prevention and not just pest control. People come in and out of schools and workers in offices go home at the end of the day, but hospitals look after people who can be immobile for a period of time “As such, pest prevention has been and will continue to be top of the mind for hospitals.”


the sun


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[JohnCenaFan28]

That's very freaky... thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's disgusting!

[JohnCenaFan28]

A US military jury at Guantanamo Bay has convicted Osama Bin Laden's former driver of supporting terrorism.

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The verdict on Salim Hamdan is the first to be delivered in a full war crimes trial at the US prison in Cuba.

The jury found Hamdan guilty of five of eight charges of supporting terrorism but acquitted him of two separate, more serious, charges of conspiracy.

A sentencing hearing is now under way. Hamdan, a Yemeni aged about 40, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The White House said the trial was fair and looked forward to more tribunals.

The defence team has said it plans to appeal, while rights groups have condemned the trial as unjust.

'Vital role'

Hamdan, who was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, was initially impassive when the verdict began to be read out. But the BBC's Kim Ghattas, at the trial, said he later appeared to break down in tears.

Our correspondent says the defence team's appeal could go as far as the Supreme Court.

One of the defence lawyers, Michael Berrigan, said: "Is material support a war crime? The defence believes it is not. That issue will go forward on appeal."

The jury of six military officers had deliberated for about eight hours over three days in the first US war crimes trial since World War II.

The prosecution had said Hamdan played a "vital role" in the conspiracy behind the 9/11 attacks. But defence lawyers said he was a low-level employee.

The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says US President George W Bush will hope to use the conclusion of the first full trial as evidence that the Guantanamo Bay system does actually work.

In its first response, the White House said Hamdan had received a "fair trial".

Spokesman Tony Fratto said: "The Military Commission system is a fair and appropriate legal process... We look forward to other cases moving forward to trial."

However, defence lawyers had said they feared a guilty verdict was inevitable and that the system was geared to convict.

Rights group Amnesty International said the trial was "fundamentally flawed" and called for all the remaining military tribunals to be halted and for proceedings to be moved to civilian courts.

'Guilt by association'

Hamdan had admitted working for Bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1997 to 2001 for $200 (£99) a month, but said he worked for wages, not to make war on the US.

The defence said the case was "guilt by association".

But the prosecution said Hamdan was an "uncontrollably enthusiastic warrior" for al-Qaeda.

Prosecutor John Murphy had said: "He has wounded, and the people he has worked with have wounded, the world."

About 270 suspects remain in detention in Guantanamo Bay.

Among the dozens of other inmates due to be tried there in the coming months are men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The International Committee of the Red Cross has voiced grave concern over what it says is Colombia's apparent "deliberate misuse" of its symbol.

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The ICRC said it had seen video footage that suggested the emblem was used deliberately in July's military mission to free 15 hostages from rebel hands.

The government has apologised to the ICRC but also condemned the leak of the military video to Colombian TV.

Intentional misuse of the symbol would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions.

The Geneva-based ICRC says the footage shown on Colombian TV on Monday indicates that the emblem was being used before the operation to free the hostages from Farc guerrillas had even begun, indicating intentional misuse.

"If authenticated, these images would clearly establish an improper use of the Red Cross emblem, which we deplore," said ICRC deputy director of operations Dominik Stillhart.

Mr Stillhart said they were seeking further clarification from the Colombian government.

'Nervous soldier'

Rescuers tricked rebels into releasing French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and the other hostages by posing as international aid workers.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe subsequently acknowledged that a Red Cross symbol was worn by a member of the military taking part in the 2 July rescue mission.

Mr Uribe said he had apologised to the Red Cross for the error, which he said had been made by a nervous soldier acting against orders.

Speaking on Tuesday, after the video was shown on Colombian TV, Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos apologised again to the ICRC.

"The emblem...was used from the beginning of the operation. We are very sorry that this has happened. But the government, the president and (armed forces chief) General Padilla said the truth that we knew at the time," Mr Santos said.

But Mr Santos also condemned the leak of the video, saying those responsible had been identified and would be punished.

"This video contains material that was leaked by members of the security forces, from our army. This leak was a product of disloyalty, possibly corruption or even treason because it puts at risk the lives of people who are dedicated to defending the fatherland," he said.

Neutrality

The Colombian government has said the rescue was the result of long preparation, eavesdropping on rebel communications and deception of guerrillas on the ground, allowing the hostages to be liberated without loss of life.

Officials also stressed how the mission had been carried out without loss of life.

Falsely portraying military personnel as Red Cross workers is against the Geneva Conventions because it could put humanitarian workers at risk when carrying out missions in war zones.

It also undermines the neutrality of the Red Cross.

At the end of July, Farc guerrillas handed eight people they had kidnapped the week before to ICRC representatives, suggesting the rebels have not lost faith in the humanitarian organisation, correspondents say.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) have been fighting the Colombian state for more than four decades and are believed to still hold several hundred hostages.


BBC News

[OMEN]

Nine firemen are believed dead after a helicopter transporting them to a northern California wildfire crashed, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said on a recorded telephone message that another four aboard the helicopter were critically burned in the crash on Tuesday evening approximately 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Redding in remote terrain.

The helicopter, with a two-person crew and carrying 11 firefighters, crashed under unknown circumstances, Gregor said.

FAA and National Transportation Safety Board investigators are on the way to the scene of the crash, Gregor added.

Reuters

[OMEN]

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REST IN PEACE: The body of writer and former Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn lies in state at the Academy of Science in Moscow.
Clutching a bunch of blood red roses, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin joined hundreds of elderly Russians laying flowers at the foot of Soviet dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn's open coffin.

Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel laureate who won international fame by showing the world the horror of Soviet labour camps through his books, died of heart failure on Sunday aged 89.

Four Russian soldiers stood to attention at each corner of his coffin in the Russian Academy of Sciences, the hallmark of an official lying-in-state. A large portrait of Solzhenitsyn and a Russian flag completed the backdrop.

Outside the mammoth white building overlooking the River Moskva, a steady trickle of mainly elderly Russians shrugged off heavy rain to mourn their hero.

Solzhenitsyn's widow Natalia and his sons looked on as mourners brought small bouquets of white or red flowers to lay before his coffin.

"Solzhenitsyn was one of the most important people in the history of Russia; he wrote exactly what he thought and needed to be remembered," said maths professor Alexander Romanov, 60.

"It's a shame that not all young people understand how important he is."

At around 1 p.m. Putin, a former agent of the KGB security service that led the persecution campaign against Solzhenitsyn, strode into the hall flanked by burly security guards.

He laid flowers at the foot of the coffin, quickly looked at Solzhenitsyn's white, waxy face, crossed himself and turned towards the family.

Putin then spoke to Solzhenitsyn's widow for about five minutes before walking off.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev plans to attend the funeral on Wednesday.

Solzhenitsyn attracted international attention after the publication in 1962 of "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", which chronicled the life of a labour camp prisoner.

CRITICAL OF MODERN RUSSIA

Josef Stalin's forced collectivisation of farmers and purges in the 1930s, followed by fierce repression after World War Two, killed millions of people in the Soviet Union.

Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 and later wrote "The Gulag Archipelago", a chronicle of his own and thousands of other prison camp experiences.

The Soviet Union stripped him of his citizenship in 1974 and he moved to the United States until the fall of Communism.

Since his return, Russian leaders have treated Solzhenitsyn with great deference, though he became increasingly critical of corruption in modern Russia, which has grown rich over the last decade due to high energy and commodity prices.

His influenced waned as he grew older, and for most young Russians Solzhenitsyn had already become a historical figure.

"The young know he wrote important books about the camps and that he received the Nobel prize, but that's all we really know. He's more important for the older generations," said football trainer Alexander Selemenev, 27, on his way to work.

He said he respected Solzhenitsyn because he was not afraid to tell the truth. "But recently in politics, for Russia, it's not clear what he has done," he said.

Russia's main television channels ran lengthy reports on their news programmes and documentaries on Solzhenitsyn's life.

But not all media reports remembered Solzhenitsyn kindly. The Communist party newspaper Pravda called him a radical critic who produced one-sided accounts of Stalin's rule.

"He became one of the main battering rams in destroying both the state and nation ... that is why he is being applauded so rapturously by both Russian President Medvedev and U.S. President Bush!" it wrote in a commentary.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

A serious oil supply crisis is looming, which could push prices above $200 a barrel, a think tank has warned.

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A "supply crunch" will affect the world market within the next five to 10 years, the Chatham House report said.

While there is plenty of oil in the ground, companies and governments were failing to invest enough to ensure production, it added.

Only a collapse in demand can stave off the looming crisis, report author Professor Paul Stevens said.

"In reality, the only possibility of avoiding such a crunch appears to be if a major recession reduces demand - and even then such an outcome may only postpone the problem," he said in The Coming Oil Supply Crunch.

Lack of funding

Prof Stevens warned that investment in new oil supplies has been inadequate as oil firms prefer to return profits to shareholders rather than reinvest it.

Furthermore, oil producing cartel Opec has failed to meet plans to expand its capacity since 2005.

He also argued that a "resurgence of resource nationalism" means that governments are "starving" their national oil companies of investment by excluding international oil firms from helping to develop capacity.

"While the forecast is controversial and extremely bullish, even allowing for some increase in capacity over the next few years, a supply crunch appears likely around 2013," he added.

"The implication is that it will quickly translate into a price spike although there is a question over how strategic stocks might be used to alleviate this."

Unpopular measures

However, Prof Stevens does conclude that only "extreme policy measures could achieve a speedy response" in boosting supplies and lowering oil prices - a move that is likely to be "politically unpopular".

Other, longer-term moves suggested by the report include offering support to help oil-exporters to manage "resource curse" - where an abundance of natural resources can damage a country's economy - and allowing Opec to join the International Energy Authority's emergency sharing scheme.

The report comes just days after oil prices slipped from peaks near $150 a barrel.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

At least 21 people have been killed by a car bomb in northern Iraq.

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About 70 people were also injured when the bomb exploded in a vegetable market in Tal Afar, 420km (260 miles) north-west of Baghdad.

The town, near Mosul, is in a region where al-Qaeda in Iraq is said to have regrouped since being forced from Baghdad by a US and Iraqi offensive.

The vehicle was parked when it exploded by the market, which was crowded with shoppers on the Muslim day of rest.

In March 2006, Tal Afar was hailed as a model Iraqi town by US President George W Bush, but almost exactly a year later it was the target of one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq's insurgency, when more than 150 people were killed in a truck bombing.

In recent months there have been military operations in the area, says the BBC's Crispin Thorold in Baghdad.

But this attack demonstrates once again that Sunni Muslim insurgents still have the ability to bring death to Iraq's streets, our correspondent adds.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

thanks for the news

[Black Widow]

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[JohnCenaFan28]

More than 100 militants have been killed in four days of heavy fighting in a tribal area near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, officials say.

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Pakistan said nine of its soldiers were killed in the battles in Bajaur.

Fighter jets, helicopter gunships and artillery were all reportedly used to pound the militants' positions in the strategically important area.

The Pakistani Taleban say that only seven of their men died. Neither claim has been independently verified.

Security has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks along the frontier, which the Afghan government and Nato say is a haven for al-Qaeda and Taleban militants.

Talks between Pakistan's new government and Taleban leaders broke down in June.

Heavy fighting

Bajaur civilians were evacuated as fighting raged over control of a strategically important post near the Afghan border.

On Friday the security forces - members of the frontier corps - pulled back from the position.

They moved to Khar, the main town in the Bajaur tribal agency, to where the Taleban are reported to have followed them.

The militants have now surrounded the town, according to a government official in Khar, who spoke to the BBC's Urdu service on condition of anonymity.

This is all further troubling evidence for Pakistan's military and government that the Taleban threat continues to grow, reports the BBC's Mark Dummett from Islamabad.

One soldier told the BBC Urdu service by telephone that a number of troops had been taken hostage by the Taleban insurgents.

"One of my men was killed on the spot when the Taleban attacked us, while four went missing. The rest of us laid down our arms and were captured," said the man, who identified himself as Subedar Ghausuddin.

There is mounting US pressure on the Pakistani government to crack down on militants who use the border region to launch cross-border raids into Afghanistan.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Researchers may have found a way to halt the biological clock which slows down our bodies over the decades.

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A US team thinks it may have found the genetic levers to help boost a system vital to cleaning up faulty proteins within our cells.

The journal Nature Medicine reported that the livers of genetically-altered older mice worked as well as those in younger animals.

They suggested it might one day help people with progressive brain diseases.

The researchers, from Yeshiva University in New York, are focusing on a process which is central to the proper working of cells.

The fundamental chemicals of cells - proteins - often have very short working lives, and need to be cleared away and recycled as soon as possible.

The body has a system for doing just that, but it becomes progressively less efficient as we get older.

This leads to progressive falls in the function of major organs - the heart, liver and brain, some of which contribute to the diseases of old age.

Dr Ana Maria Cuervo, from Yeshiva, created a mouse with two genetic alterations.

The first, when activated, boosted the number of specific cell receptors linked to this protein recycling function, while the second allowed the first to be turned on whenever Dr Cuervo wished simply by modifying the animal's diet.

Switched on

She waited until the mice were six months old - the point at which age-related decline in the protein-recycling system begins - then turned on the receptor gene.

When examined at two years old, the liver cells of these mice were far more effective at recycling protein compared with normal mice.

When the overall liver function of the very old genetically-modified mice was tested, they performed at a comparable level to much younger mice.

Dr Cuervo said: "These results show it's possible to correct this protein 'logjam' that occurs in our cells as we get older, thereby perhaps helping us to enjoy healthier lives well into old age."

She now plans to test animal models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, believing that the abnormal protein deposits in Alzheimer's in particular might be dealt with more effectively this way.

Thomas von Zglinicki, Professor of Cellular Gerontology at Newcastle University, said that the results were "very exciting".

"It's not often you see studies where they have managed to improve function in this way.

"What they seem to have managed is to maintain the mice at this young stage, and both restore and maintain normal activity."

He said that it should, in theory, be possible to achieve the same effect across the whole body.

A spokesman for the Alzheimer's Society said: "As we age we have an increase in protein misfolding and general faults in protein processing, so the ability to maintain an effective system to clear these would be beneficial.

"However, a direct line to the clearance of defective proteins in the brain is not so clear from this research."


BBC News

[Black Widow]

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[Black Widow]

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[Black Widow]

Parts of the spectacular Beijing Olympics opening ceremony were faked, it has emerged.

The global television audience of more than three billion people watched in amazement as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks proceeded through the night sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest stadium - except they were watching a computer animation.

Even the giant television screens within the stadium itself broadcast the fake images.

Stunned viewers thought they were watching the string of fireworks filmed from above by a helicopter.

But in reality they were watching a 3D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce.

It even included a 'camera shake' to mimic the effect of filming from a helicopter.

The dupe was revealed by China's Beijing Times. Speaking to the paper, the man responsible for the animation said he was pleased with the result.

"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," Gao Xiaolong told the newspaper.

"But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished."

The designers even added some haziness to simulate the polluted Beijing skyline.

Broadcasters around the world had no choice but to show the footage because it all came from one feed provided by Beijing Olympic Broadcasting - the organisation responsible for filming the games.

The ceremony has also been strongly criticised by architect Ai Weiwei, who helped design the Bird's Nest stadium.

Writing on his blog, Mr Ai described the ceremony as "a recycling of the rubbish of fake classical culture tradition; a sacrilegious visual garbage dump and an insult to the spirit of liberty; low class sound play that's just noise pollution".

He was directly critical of China's ruling communist party, characterising the ceremony as "a showcase of the reincarnation of the Marxist imperialism; the ultimate paragon of an all embracing culture of fascist totalitarianism; an encyclopaedia that encompasses total defeat in intellectual spirit."

Mr Ai helped design the stadium alongside Swiss architect firm, Herzog and de Meuron.

But since then, he has become an outspoken blogger against the Olympics and the Chinese regime. Unusually, he has not been censored by the authorities.

Organiser said that the footprint fireworks were there for real, but thought it unsafe to try to film them - so they recreated them instead.


sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said he will not return to Thailand from the UK.

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In a statement released to the Thai media, Mr Thaksin said he and his wife would remain in the UK, "where democracy is more important".

Mr Thaksin is on bail over corruption charges but failed to make a scheduled Bangkok court appearance on Monday.

Thailand's Supreme Court has now issued an arrest warrant for the billionaire, who owns Manchester City football club.

Mr Thaksin says the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to remove him from politics.

'Political enemies'

The former leader had been due to return to the Thai capital on Sunday after a court allowed him to attend the Olympic Games opening in Beijing.

He and his wife - who is on bail pending an appeal after she was jailed for three years for tax fraud - were to appear before the Supreme Court in a case involving the allegedly unlawful purchase of land.

Instead Mr Thaksin issued a statement announcing his decision not to return home.

"What happened to me and my family and my close relations resulted from efforts to get rid of me from politics," he said in the hand-written statement.

"These are my political enemies. They don't care about the rule of law, facts or internationally recognised due process."

Mr Thaksin apologised to the Thai people for his decision to live in the UK, where his daughter is attending university and where he owns several properties, as well as the Manchester City football club.

"If I am fortunate enough, I will return and die on Thai soil, just like other Thais," he said.

Observers have said that the former prime minister may attempt to claim political asylum in the UK, but there was no reference to this in the statement.

Thailand's Supreme Court reacted swiftly.

"The court sees that the defendants have broken their bail terms. Therefore, it issues an arrest warrant and orders their bail bonds to be seized," a statement said.

Wrangling

The court had agreed to try several cases against Thaksin Shinawatra for allegedly abusing his power while in office.

Mr Thaksin was the first Thai prime minister to serve a full five-year term.

He was extremely popular in rural areas but far less so amongst the Bangkok elite. In September 2006 the military removed him from power, accusing him of corruption.

Military-backed investigators began probing allegations against him. But then Mr Thaksin's allies won power in the first post-coup polls.

The former leader returned to Thailand in February. He said he had no plans to return to politics but his opponents did not appear to believe him.

Political wrangling between the two sides intensified and anti-government street protests resumed in the Thai capital. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was accused of acting as a proxy for Mr Thaksin and faced calls to step down.

In the meantime the courts - newly empowered by the military-backed constitution - continued to pursue various cases against Mr Thaksin and his family.

Last month, in an unexpected move, the former prime minister's wife was jailed for tax fraud.

The ruling will both have shocked Mr Thaksin and served as a powerful indication of what could lie in store for him at the hands of the courts, analysts say, hence his decision to remain in the UK.

Meanwhile the UK's Premier League has insisted it is prepared to invoke its "fit and proper persons test" as regards Mr Thaksin's ownership of Manchester City if necessary.

"If we feel the rule has been breached, we will invoke it," said Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

"We will not turn a blind eye to issues of a serious nature.

"It is quite a complex matter and we can't just make a judgement on the spot but clearly we have a club owner who has not yet been found guilty of any offence."

Mr Scudamore said the league would seek advice from the UK Home Office and Foreign Office.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Chinese shares have fallen to their lowest level for 19 months, rattled by fears about inflation.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44911000/jpg/_44911034_44911015.jpg

Wholesale prices jumped 10% in July from a year earlier, the highest rate in 12 years, official data showed.

The data sent the Shanghai Composite tumbling 5.2% to close at 2,470 points, down 60% from last October's peak.

Investors are concerned that rising inflation combined with the prospect of slower economic growth will hurt company profits.

Margins squeezed

However, China reported a rise in its trade surplus, which swelled to its highest level in eight months in July, despite the economic slowdown hitting many of its customers overseas.

The 10% rise in China's producer price index, which measures the price of goods as they leave the factory, was up sharply from June's rate of 8.8%.

The rise was primarily due to rising energy costs, with crude oil costing 41.2% more than a year ago and a 32.6% rise in the cost of petrol.

"Producers' profit margins are being squeezed sharply and even though tough market competition will delay the pass-through to retail prices, it will happen eventually," said Xing Zhiqiang, an economist at China International Corp.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

Sir Bill Cotton, the BBC's former managing director of television, has died, the corporation has said.

Sir Bill, who retired in 1987, died in hospital in Bournemouth at the age of 80.

He spent seven years as the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment between 1970 and
1977, overseeing classic shows like The Two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise and
Monty Python's Flying Circus.

He also spent four years as the Controller of BBC1.


sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[Black Widow]

The families of some Omagh bomb victims have decided not to attend a ceremony next week to mark the 10th anniversary of the atrocity.

Many relatives of those who died in the 1998 attack are angry at the way Omagh District Council has organised the official anniversary event planned for next week.

They are also unhappy at how the council handled the contentious issue of the wording for new memorials erected at the bomb site on the town's Market Street and at a nearby garden of remembrance.

It is understood the families of at least ten of the 29 victims of the bombing will not attend the service next Friday.

Instead the relatives, the majority of whom belong to the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, are holding their own memorial event on Sunday.

Kevin Skelton, who lost his wife Philomena, said he would have no part of the council event.

'There's a whole range of issues I've got problems with,' he said.

'The whole wording issue and some of the politicians that are going to be there - I think they have (the council) have made a real mess of it altogether.

'They certainly didn't consult with us about the event.'

Members of the support group had demanded the retention of a phrase engraved on an original tribute stone, which has since been removed from the garden of remembrance, stating that the victims were 'murdered by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb.'

The council appointed an independent fact-finding team to try and resolve the issue and councillors unanimously accepted its recommendation to use the phrase on the walls of the garden of remembrance, but not on the glass obelisk at the bomb site.

Sinn Féin councillor and chairperson of Omagh council Martin McColgan said it was a pity some families had decided not to attend.

However, he defended the council's approach to the memorial issue. 'I would love to see everyone there on Friday,' Mr McColgan said.

'As a council we have tried to do our best to mark the anniversary.'

'I realise it's a sensitive time and different people will react differently.

'But I can't legislate for how some families are going to react, that is their prerogative.'

Ten years on from the bomb, those responsible have not been caught, with police on both sides of the border having been heavily criticised for their handling of the investigation.


RTE.ie

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Nasa has pushed back by a year its internal target date for flying the successor to the shuttle.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44914000/jpg/_44914551_orion.jpg

Agency officials say they are now aiming for September 2014 for the first crewed mission of the Orion ship.

This is a year later than Nasa had hoped for, but still inside its March 2015 absolute deadline.

The officials say the funds currently available to develop Orion and its Ares launch rocket mean the faster timeline is no longer tenable.

Engineers also need time to grapple with a range of technical issues as they develop the new systems. These include trying to reduce the levels of vibration astronauts are likely to experience when they lift off atop the new Ares vehicle.

"The commitment date we have made to the administration and Congress has been March 2015 and that hasn't changed.

"What we have changed is our internal planning date," explained Doug Cooke, the Nasa deputy associate administrator in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.

"Without as much information as we have today, we were attempting to close the gap between shuttle retirement and the first flight of Orion and Ares 1 to the absolute minimum; and so we were trying to push the project towards a September 2013 date internally.

"That was not a commitment in any sense because we knew we had not built into that any contingencies; everything would have to go perfect to make that date, and would probably have required some additional funding.

"Now we've changed our planning date from September 2013 date to a September 2014 date."

In July, the US space agency fixed the dates of its last shuttle flights.

The final orbiter to launch before the whole fleet goes into retirement will be Endeavour on 31 May, 2010.

The timeline envisaged by Nasa means routine Orion trips to the International Space Station (ISS) to exchange crews are unlikely to occur before 2016. In the meantime, the agency will have to rely instead on Russian Soyuz capsules; or on a commercial system developed by the Californian SpaceX company, assuming this is flight-approved.

Remaining shuttle missions in 2008

8 October - Atlantis: A mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.

10 November - Endeavour: ISS re-supply, and servicing of rotary joints that allow the big solar arrays to track the Sun.

Shuttle missions in 2009

12 February - Discovery: Final pair of solar arrays to be installed on the starboard end of the station's backbone.

15 May - Endeavour: Delivery of third and final component of the Japanese Kibo Laboratory.

30 July - Atlantis: Largely a logistics mission, but it will include spacewalks to install equipment on Europe's Columbus lab.

15 October - Discovery: The flight will take up two spare gyroscopes that are needed to maintain station stability.

10 December - Endeavour: Delivery of the final connecting node, Node 3, together with the European-built Cupola observation window.

Shuttle missions in 2010

11 February - Atlantis: Another logistics mission to make sure the station is fully stocked with supplies.

8 April - Discovery: The flight will see the installation of a Russian Mini Research Module to be attached at the rear of the ISS.

31 May - Endeavour: The last flight. The 15-day mission will be the 35th orbiter flight to the station.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The alleged leader of a coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau last week has escaped to the Gambia, the armed forces say.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44906000/jpg/_44906381_vieira_ap226b.jpg

Rear Adm Americo Bubo Na Tchuto evaded house arrest in Guinea-Bissau. AFP news agency reports that he was detained shortly after entering the Gambia.

Mr Na Tchuto is suspected of asking senior officers for help in ousting President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

The former Portuguese colony is in the throes of a political crisis that has seen the president dissolve parliament.

That decision came a month after one of Guinea-Bissau's three main parties quit the unity government.

Courting support

Mr Na Tchuto, the West African nation's navy chief, had last Thursday telephoned several top officers, including the army's chief-of-staff, to request their assistance in his plan to depose the president, according to an army spokesman.

He was put under house arrest but escaped on Monday, travelling to the Gambia by sea, the armed forces said.

He was reportedly arrested there by Gambian officials shortly after his arrival.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the world's poorest countries, is no stranger to coups.

President Vieira first came to power on the back of a military coup in 1980, while he was head of the armed forces.

He was toppled in 1999 but returned to win the presidency as an independent in 2005.


BBC News

[OMEN]

http://www.foxnews.com/images/416559/6_66_081308_georgia_320.jpg
BREAKING NEWS — Georgia's Security Council chief says Russians have bombed and looted the city of Gori outside the breakaway province of South Ossetia in violation of the truce.

Alexander Lomaia says that the Russian military bombed Gori Wednesday morning and entered the city. The Russian military then let paramilitaries into Gori who started massive looting.

An AP reporter outside the city of Gori saw the convoy speeding past and heading south.

The accusation came less than 12 hours after Georgia's president said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France. The Russian president said that Russia was halting military action because Georgia had paid enough for its attack on South Ossetia, a separatist region along the Russian border with close ties to Moscow.
Still, Medvedev ordered the Russian defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting to destroy any resistance or aggressive actions.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had gambled on a surprise attack late Thursday to regain control over his country's pro-Russian breakaway province of South Ossetia. Instead, Georgia suffered a punishing beating from Russian tanks and aircraft that has left the country with even less control over territory than it had before.
In the west, Georgian troops acknowledged Wednesday they had completely pulled out of a small section of Abkhazia, a second separatist region — a development that leaves the entire area in the hands of the Russian-backed separatists.

A few dozen separatist fighters moved into Georgian territory on Wednesday, planting their flag on a bridge over the Inguri River.

"The border has been along this river for 1,000 years," separatist official Ruslan Kishmaria told AP on Wednesday. He said Georgia would have to accept the new border and taunted the departed Georgian forces by saying they had received "American training in running away."

Georgia's Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said that Russia had moved 50 tanks into Gori, a strategic town 15 miles from the border with South Ossetia, violating the new accord.

Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn denied any tanks were in Gori. He said Russians went into the city to try to implement the truce with local Georgian officials but could not find any.

An APTN television crew in Gori saw some Russian armored vehicles Wednesday morning near a military base there. Puffs of smoke in the air indicated some military action.

An AP photographer saw several Russian troops and two armored vehicles on the northern outskirts of the city. His driver went further up the road and ran into Russian military volunteers, who warned that Russian forces would soon shell Gori. The two retreated south but no immediate shelling could be heard.

Nogovitsyn said sporadic clashes continued in South Ossetia where Georgian snipers fired sporadically on Russian troops who returned fire. "We must respond to provocations," he said.

Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Zurab Gvenetadze said that Russian forces seized a military base on the outskirts of Gori, situated on Georgia's only significant east-west road.

Lomaia said that Russian troops also held ground in western Georgia, maintaining control of the town of Zugdidi where they seized the central police station and government buildings and saddling the main highway in the region. He said there had been no fresh clashes since the truce.

Georgia insisted its troops were driven from Abkhazia by Russian forces. At first, Russia said separatists — not Russian forces — had done the job. But the claim rang hollow — an AP reporter saw 135 Russian military vehicles heading toward the gorge Tuesday and Russia is the military patron for the separatists.

Nogovitsyn said Wednesday that Russian peacekeepers had disarmed Georgian troops in Kodori — the very peacekeepers Georgia wants withdrawn. Still, the effect was clear. Abkhazia was out of Georgian hands and it would take more than an EU peace plan to get it back in.

Nogovitsyn said Wednesday that Russian peacekeepers had disarmed Georgian troops in Kodori — the very peacekeepers Georgia wants withdrawn. Still, the effect was clear. Abkhazia was out of Georgian hands and it would take more than an EU peace plan to get it back in.

One of two separatists areas trying to leave Georgia for Russia, Abkhazia lies close to the heart of many Russians. It's Black Sea coast was a favorite vacation spot for the Soviet elite, and the province is just down the coast from Sochi, the Russian resort that will host the 2014 Olympics.

Russia has handed out passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and stationed peacekeepers in the both regions since the early 1990s. Georgia wants the Russian peacekeepers out, but Medvedev insisted Tuesday they would stay.

Saakashvili said Russia's aim all along was not to gain control of two disputed provinces but to "destroy" the smaller nation, a former Soviet state and current U.S. ally.

Russia accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in South Ossetia. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died.

The overall death toll was expected to rise because large areas of Georgia were still too dangerous for journalists to enter and see the true scope of the damage.

Georgia's Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili said Wednesday that 175 Georgians had died in five days of air and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins. He said many died Tuesday in a Russian raid of Gori hours before Medvedev declared fighting halted.

An AP reporter also saw heavy damage inflicted to a Georgian village near Gori by a raid which the villagers said came only half-hour before Russian television broadcast Medvedev's statement. Two men and a woman in the village of Ruisi, in undisputed Georgian territory just outside South Ossetia, were killed and five were wounded.

"I always hide in the basement," said one villager, 70-year old Vakhtang Chkhekvadze, as he was picking away what was left of a window frame torn by an explosion. "But this time the explosion came so abruptly, I don't remember what happened afterward."

The first relief flight from the U.N. refugee agency arrived in Georgia as the number of people uprooted by the conflict neared 100,000. Thousands streamed into the capital.

Those left behind in devastated regions of Georgia cowered in rat-infested cellars or wandered nearly deserted cities.

Georgia, which is pushing for NATO membership, borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s. Both separatist provinces are backed by Russia, which appears open to absorbing them.

Medvedev said Georgia must allow the provinces to decide whether they want to remain part of Georgia. He said Russian peacekeepers would stay in both provinces, even as Saakashvili said his government will officially designate them as occupying forces.

Georgia sits on a strategic oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude to Western markets and bypassing Russia. The British oil company BP shut down one of three Georgian pipelines, saying it was a precaution.

Fox News

[Black Widow]

INDIANAPOLIS - A woman who grew to be 7 feet, 7 inches tall and was recognized as the world's tallest female died early Wednesday, a friend said. She was 53.

Sandy Allen, who used her height to inspire schoolchildren to accept those who are different, died at a nursing home in her hometown of Shelbyville, Ind., family friend Rita Rose said.

The cause of death was not yet known. Allen had been hospitalized in recent months as she suffered from a recurring blood infection, along with diabetes, breathing troubles and kidney failure, Rose said.

In London, Guinness World Records spokesman Damian Field confirmed Wednesday that Allen was still listed as the tallest woman. Some Web sites cite a 7-foot-9 woman from China.

Coincidentally, Allen lived in the same nursing home, Heritage House Convalescent Center, as 115-year-old Edna Parker, whom Guinness has recognized as the world's oldest person since August 2007.


'Tool to educate people'
Allen said a tumor caused her pituitary gland to produce too much growth hormone. She underwent an operation in 1977 to stop further growth.

But she was proud of her height, Rose said. "She embraced it," she said. "She used it as a tool to educate people."

Allen appeared on television shows and spoke to church and school groups to bring youngsters her message that it was all right to be different.

Allen weighed 6-1/2 pounds when she was born in June 1955. By the age of 10 she had grown to be 6-foot-3, and by age 16 she was 7-1.

She wrote to Guinness World Records in 1974, saying she would like to get to know someone her own height.

"It is needless to say my social life is practically nil and perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life," she wrote.


Museum appearances
The recognition as the world's tallest woman helped Allen accept her height and become less shy, Rose said.

"It kind of brought her out of her shell," Rose said. "She got to the point where she could joke about it."

In the 1980s, she appeared for several years at the Guinness Museum of World Records in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

"I'll never forget the old Japanese man who couldn't speak English, so he decided to feel for himself if I was real," she recalled with a chuckle when she moved back to Indiana in 1987.

"At Guinness there were days when I felt like I was doing a freak show," she said. "When that feeling came too often, I knew I had to come back home."

"She loved talking to kids because they would ask more honest questions," Rose said. "Adults would kind of stand back and stare and not know how to approach her."


msnbc

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

The US government spent $85bn (£45bn) between 2003 and 2007 on contractors for services in support of the Iraq war and reconstruction, a report says.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44542000/jpg/_44542362_blackwater_ap_s226.jpg

And by the end of 2008, spending is likely to top $100bn, a review by the Congressional Budget Office found.

Supporters say their use is cost-effective but there have also been documented cases of overcharging.

Concern over security contractors also grew following the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in September 2007.

The US is relying on contractors in Iraq at a greater rate than in any other major conflict, the CBO said.

According to CBO estimates, the US currently employs 190,000 contractors in Iraq and neighbouring countries, a ratio of one contractor per member of the US armed forces.

About 20% are American, 40% are citizens from the country where they are employed; and the rest are foreign workers.

They provide services ranging from security, logistics support, construction, petroleum products and food.

Security

The majority of the $85bn was spent on contracts within Iraq, with the remainder being awarded for contracts in countries including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The use of security contractors has been the focus of particular attention, especially after an incident in September 2007 involving employees of the Blackwater firm which resulted in the deaths of 17 Iraqis.

The US justice department is due to decide soon whether to bring charges, the Associated Press reports.

The company, which said at the time that its staff acted in self-defence, is not expected to be prosecuted.

The CBO report says its analysis shows:

* the US spent between $6bn and $19bn on security work in Iraq
* about 25,000 to 30,000 people work for security firms in Iraq - of these, 10,000 work directly for the US government and up to 25,000 for the Iraqi government
* the costs of a private security contract are similar to those of a US military unit performing a similar job, although during peacetime the private contract would not have to be renewed.

Last December, the US government said it had tightened procedures to give US military commanders a greater role in co-ordinating the movements of private security staff.

But the CBO notes that the legal status of contractor staff, particularly for those who are armed, remains uncertain.

The scale of the private contract business and the sums involved have prompted calls for greater scrutiny.

"I believe we need to create a special committee in the US Senate to exercise oversight over contracting abuses related to reconstruction and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Senator Byron Dorgan recently.

He wants a panel similar to one set up by Senator Harry Truman in 1941 during the build-up to WWII.

"The Truman Committee held 60 hearings on waste, fraud and abuse," Mr Dorgan said. "It's unfathomable to me that we don't have a bipartisan investigative committee on contracting in Iraq."


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

At least three people have died in a suspected bomb blast near a police post in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44920000/gif/_44920991_pakistan_lahore.gif

At least nine people were hurt in the explosion. It is unclear if the blast was caused by a suicide bomber.

The attack comes as Pakistan prepares to celebrate the 61st anniversary of its independence on Thursday.

Pakistani security forces are often attacked by Islamist militants allied to the Taleban militia based in the rugged north-west of the country.

Twelve militants were killed in a missile strike in north-western Pakistan on Tuesday.

Thirteen people also died in the north-western city of Peshawar in a bomb attack on an air force bus on Tuesday.

Thursday's attack in Lahore appears to have targeted policemen on guard duty for the Independence Day celebrations.

According to AFP news agency, a policeman interviewed by the private Express TV station said he had seen the burning body of motorcyclist, whom he believed to be a suicide bomber, lying next to bloodied policemen.

"It appears the motorcycle rider blasted them. His body was making burning noises," the policeman was quoted as saying.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/983/repmain555070azi3.jpg


THIS is the dramatic moment a Georgian TV reporter is shot by a sniper on LIVE television.

News girl Tamara Urushadze suddenly disappears from view in this live report on public television in Georgia.

Gunshots are clearly heard in the background as the cameraman jumps out of the way.

After scenes of panic and commotion, Urashadze reappears with her arm bleeding.

Unbelievably she tries to continue her report as colleagues bandage her up.

In the dramatic footage she says that her arm had been grazed by a sniper bullet.

The incident was close to Gori, a city on Georgia’s main east-west highway, the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting.

Russian troops are still reported to be in the area despite a ceasefire being agreed between the two countries.

Video. (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1559724.ece)

the sun.co.uk

[Black Widow]

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9606/snn1429a2g280554381apf0.jpg


A WOMAN cop has been suspended after colleagues discovered she was working as a hooker.

The WPC, 28, offers her services as a £100-an-hour escort on a website.

She was one of eight women and six men arrested by officers investigating prostitution and police corruption across Greater Manchester, Northumberland, Cleveland, Co Durham and the Scottish Borders.

The cop, a member of the Northumbria force, is one of the so-called Notorious Girls on a website run by Neil Lock and wife Natalie.

The WPC is believed to be a hazel-eyed brunette who features on the site with the working name Kelly — but with her face blanked out.

A source said: “It is amazing that a serving officer got mixed up in this. She must have known she was gambling with her career.


Satisfaction

"If she is found guilty in a court or of an internal disciplinary offence then she is finished. She could never work as an officer again.”

The site boasts: “The Notorious Girls offer the finest value for money. Your satisfaction is guaranteed!!!”

The girls pay £117.50 a week to be registered on the site.

Their charges range from £50 for half an hour to £1,650 for two girls for 24 hours.

Bentley-driving Mr Lock and his wife, both 27, live in a villa in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, with their two young children.

They insist they are not acting illegally. They claim payments to the escorts are for “companionship” only and anything else is “a matter of choice between two or more consulting adults”.

Northumbria Police said of the investigation: “We can confirm that one of those arrested is a serving woman officer.”


the sun.co.uk

[JohnCenaFan28]

It's a good thing that guy was a bad sniper, that was so shocking.

[Black Widow]

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9403/bigfoot280554527azb2.jpg

TWO hunters claim to have found the body of a dead BIGFOOT.

The legendary hairy creature – about 2m tall, with human like teeth – was said to have been found in the US two weeks ago and is being preserved in a freezer.

Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, who run Bigfoot expeditions, claim they made the astonishing discovery in the woods of north Georgia, in the southeast of the US.


Proof

The pair and "the real Bigfoot Hunter" Tom Biscardi, who has endorsed the find, plan to front a press conference in California, presenting DNA and photographic "proof."

Mr Whitton, a Georgia police officer, and Mr Dyer, a former prison officer, have posted photos of the ape like beast on their searchingforbigfoot website.

They say it is a "part human and part ape" male and weighs over 230kg with reddish hair and blackish-grey eyes.

Its feet are flat and 41cm long with five toes.

The hands also have five fingers and and the teeth are more "human-like than ape like".

And they are adamant the find is not a hoax.

"We trekked for a day a half ... what kind of lunatic would be out here in a monkey suit? I saw the thing, I touched it," said Mr Biscardi, who has been searching for Bigfoots since 1971.

The hunters say several Bigfoots were spotted walking around close to where they found the body but refuse to reveal the location in a bid "to protect the creatures".

But now the group are hatching plans for a secret expedition to capture a LIVE Bigfoot.


the sun.co.uk

[JohnCenaFan28]

Wow, that's shocking. Thanks for the news.

[Black Widow]

Wow, that's shocking. Thanks for the news.

i know where was she when i needed frisking :no:

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's shocking, I can't wait for the proof it will be very interesting to see how this turns out.

[JohnCenaFan28]

An Ohio man with a hatred of paper money slapped down $8,000 in coins at a car dealership to buy a Chevrolet pick-up - then paid the rest by cheque.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44922000/jpg/_44922566_7e829ac2-d321-46a4-9448-c01d7747f4a4.jpg

James Jones, 70, produced 16 coffee cans full of coins to buy his new Chevrolet Silverado in Cincinnati and staff spent 90 minutes counting it.

But his coin hoard only covered half of the $16,000 (£8,500) price tag.

The man's son said the most amazing thing for him was his father deciding to replace his 1981 pick-up at all.

As far back as he could remember, Dennis Jones told the Cincinnati Enquirer, his father had always had coins.

“He gave me lunch money in coins and each time he ever gave me money it was in coins,” he recalled.

“I am amazed that we were able to talk him into buying a new truck, because he is pretty tight with his money.”

According to the paper, James Jones walked into the Jake Sweeney dealership, plunked down his cans and said: “I want that Chevy truck.”

"In my 19 years in this business I have never seen anything like this,” said Biff Arnold, finance manager for Jake Sweeney.

“I have seen many buyers come in with a lot of cash money, but never this much money in coins.”

Salesman David Crisswell said the coins included "dimes, quarters, half-dollars, silver and Susan B Anthony dollars".

The new owner of the Chevy says he does not trust banks or paper money.

“Paper money will burn, but it is hard to damage coins," the retired engineer pointed out.

"I bought four or five rolls of coins each month. I don't know how long it took me to save this amount, probably all my life.”


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

US aviation officials have accused American Airlines of major breaches of safety, including intentionally flying planes known to need repairing.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44924000/jpg/_44924986_aa226gettystory.jpg

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it wanted to fine the company a total of $7.1m (£3.8m).

It said two MD-83 passenger jets were used on dozens of flights in 2007, even though repair work reported as necessary by pilots had not been done.

Problems with drug and alcohol testing were also found, officials said.

American Airlines, which can appeal against the fine, had no immediate comment.

The FAA statement comes hours after British Airways confirmed it had sealed an alliance with American Airlines, allowing the two carriers to agree fares, routes and schedules together.

The alliance also includes Spain's Iberia, which is merging with BA.

Safety regulations

In a statement, the FAA said that in December 2007, "American used the wrong provisions of its Minimum Equipment List (MEL) to return two MD-83 aircraft to service after pilots had reported problems, and flew the planes 58 times in violation of FAA regulations".

The MEL contains components and systems without which the aircraft may operate safely under specific limitations.

On 11 and 12 December, the airline "operated the first MD-83 on eight flights in airspace it should have been restricted from after maintenance on part of the autopilot system was improperly deferred", the FAA said.

An FAA inspector discovered the error and informed American Airlines, but the plane was still flown on 10 further flights until the problem was fixed, it added.

In another incident involving the same aircraft on 21 December, the autopilot disconnected during landing because of a faulty altimeter.

However, technicians did not check the problem and instead deferred maintenance, allowing a further 36 flights to take place, the FAA said.

A second MD-83 also experienced an "autopilot disconnect" on 27 December.

"Although American mechanics correctly diagnosed the problem, they again deferred maintenance under the wrong item of the MEL. As a result, the aircraft operated on four revenue flights without a fully functioning autopilot," the FAA said.

The FAA proposed a $4.1m civil penalty for the violations in the first case and $325,000 for the second. It said the fines were appropriate because the airline deferred repairs even when it was aware.

"In intentionally continuing to fly the aircraft, the carrier did not follow important safety regulations intended to protect passengers and crew," the FAA said.

The FAA is also proposed $2.7m in civil penalties for "alleged past deficiencies in its drug and alcohol testing programs and for allegedly operating aircraft in past years without timely inspections of emergency escape path lighting systems".


BBC News

[OMEN]

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2008/08/15/nemesis-document.jpg
This document, marked 'Protected B,' describes ways that intruders could hack into an Environment Canada intelligence and enforcement database called NEMISIS. It was found lying on an Ottawa street corner. (CBC)
A sensitive government document detailing a classified computer database has been given to the CBC after it was found lying on an Ottawa street in a rain-stained, tire-marked brown envelope.

The document is a risk assessment of an Environment Canada classified environmental enforcement database. It details a number of the system's failings and describes exactly how the data could be attacked and corrupted, the CBC's James Cudmore reported.

The so-called NEMISIS database is used by officers to track and prosecute polluters and environmental law-breakers.

The acronym stood for National Enforcement Management Information System and Intelligence System when it was unveiled in 1999. However, the title page of the mislaid document calls it the National Enforcement and Emergency Management Information System and Intelligence System, adding the words "and Emergency" to the name.

The assessment described in detail exactly how the database could be attacked by industrial hackers and organized crime, as well as environmental activists.

If someone were able to shut the system down, or hack inside and delete or corrupt the information, officers might not be able to prosecute their cases, which would seriously interfere with the enforcement of the law, the risk assessment said.

"NEMISIS is operating at high risk," the analysis determined.

The document — spotted by a passer-by on Castlefrank Road in Ottawa's Kanata area — is marked "Protected B" at the top of each of its 131 pages.

While documents labelled Protected B are not top-secret, they must be handled with special care for security reasons and not left lying around for just anyone to see, said Christian Rouillard, an expert on public administration and associate professor at the University of Ottawa's school of political studies.
'No justification for losing a document'

"It is taken very seriously," Rouillard told CBC News. "There is no justification for losing a document, regardless of its security level, regardless of the classification."

Environment Canada spokeswoman Sujata Raisinghani told CBC News the department will look into the incident.

"We take document security seriously," she said, but refused to give any more details about how the papers came to be on a road.

Although the enforcement database has attracted little public attention, its existence is not a secret.

In a report to Parliament in 1999, Environment Canada said: "A new enforcement tool has been put in place. The National Enforcement Management Information System and Intelligence System (NEMISIS) tracks and manages national enforcement activities for the environmental and wildlife legislation enforced by Environment Canada officers. The system provides accurate and timely statistical information and detailed reports on enforcement efforts.

The database "is being provided to provinces as part of the sharing of enforcement-related information amongst enforcement agencies," it said.

CBC

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Members of Nepal's parliament have overwhelmingly elected the Maoist leader Prachanda as the country's new prime minister.

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The 53-year-old won 80% of votes to defeat his only rival, the Congress Party candidate, Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Maoists won a surprise victory in April elections, and two other key parties supported Prachanda in the vote.

Last month, Nepal swore in a mainly ceremonial president, Ram Baran Yadav, after the monarchy was scrapped in May.

'Lenin or Napoleon'

It is only two years since Prachanda emerged from more than two decades underground as a militant communist leader.

"I am very happy and very emotional," he said as he left the constituent assembly after the vote, reported AFP news agency.

What the Maoists called their "people's war" had left 13,000 people dead, tens of thousands displaced and much of the country's infrastructure destroyed.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says that now the former guerrilla will be the most powerful politician in the Himalayan country, after 464 lawmakers gave him their vote and only 113 rejected him.

The Maoists' deputy leader, Baburam Bhattarai, said: "Today is a day of pride and it will be written with golden letters in the history of the nation."

He predicted earlier that Prachanda would be a leader "for a new era", comparable to Lenin or Napoleon.

Friday's ballot ends months of political deadlock that had followed the sacking of the unpopular King Gyanendra and the abolition of the 240-year-old monarchy.

Our correspondent says that Prachanda's elevation had long seemed inevitable after his party scored its convincing win in April.

Prachanda was almost guaranteed victory because he had the support of three parties - his own, the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) and the MJF (Madheshi Janadhikar Forum).

The Maoists' Congress Party rivals accused them before the vote of plotting to set up a totalitarian communist regime, a suggestion they strongly denied.

A former agricultural science teacher-turned-revolutionary, Prachanda was originally named Pushpa Kamal Dahal, but he still uses his guerrilla nom de guerre.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

If you are looking for a holiday home on the French Riviera, the stock of available properties just got smaller.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44926000/jpg/_44926320_-41.jpg

With grounds so grand that it takes a reputed 50 gardeners to tend them, the Villa Leopolda in Villefranche-sur-Mer has been snapped up by a mystery Russian billionaire.

Built by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1902, the sumptuous villa has been graced by world leaders and superstars.

The previous owner, the late banking billionaire Edmond Safra, is said to have entertained Ronald Reagan and Frank Sinatra there.

With the credit crisis causing turmoil in the world's financial community, and property values falling generally, you would expect the price to have tempered a little.

But no, the mysterious buyer is expected to hand over a whopping 500 million euros ($736m:£397m) for this luxury home on the Côte d'Azur.

Hotspots

It is all down to a shortage of supply and rising demand from rich business people, according to luxury estate agent Jonathan Hewlett, who has recently sold a London pad for more than £100m.

"The increase in the mega high net worth individuals globally is on a march," the Savills director told BBC News.

"And they are very specific about where they want to live."

Central London and the French Riviera are the current hotpots for Russian buyers, according to Mr Hewlett.

With the recent surge in commodity prices, there are still people in the market looking to purchase a very exclusive address, he added.

The Villa Leopolda price-tag smashed the previous record of £117m ($217m), which Britain's richest man Lakshmi Mittal reportedly paid this year for a home on London's so-called Billionaires Boulevard close to Kensington Palace.

But even the latest record may not last long. Asia's richest man, industrialist Mukesh Ambani is expected to move into the 27-storey property he has built to house his family and offices in Mumbai next year.

With a value reported to be up to $2bn, the design was said to have be inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

Russia has warned Poland that it is risking an attack - even a nuclear one - by accepting a US missile interceptor base on its soil.

The threat represents Moscow's strongest language yet on the controversial plan.

US and Polish officials have stuck firmly by their deal, signed on Thursday, for Poland to host a system the US says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations such as Iran.

Moscow is convinced the base is aimed at Russia's missile force. The deal comes as relations already are strained over the recent fighting between Russia and US-backed Georgia over the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia.

General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of staff of Russia's armed forces, was quoted as saying: "Poland, by deploying (the system), is exposing itself to a strike - 100%."

He added, in a reference to the agreement, that Russia's military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons, if they in some way help them".

Gen Nogovitsyn said that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems, according to the Interfax news agency.

President Dmitry Medvedev said the deal "absolutely, clearly demonstrates what we had said earlier - the deployment has the Russian Federation as its target".

However, speaking at news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he appeared to take a softer position than General Nogovitsyn's, saying "it is sad news for all who live on this densely populated continent, but it is not dramatic".

US officials defended the missile defence deal, and have said the timing was not meant to antagonise Russian leaders amid the fighting in Georgia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a trip to Georgian capital Tblisi, said: "Poland is an independent country. And it's an ally of the United States.

"And it's a democratic country, to whose security the United States is committed.

"Russia should welcome having democracies on its border, not threaten them."

Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski said Poland was willing to let Russia inspect the future missile base to give Moscow "tangible proof" that it is not directed against Russia.

Asked about Russian threats against Poland, US Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said: "I think the Russian behaviour over the last several days is generally concerning not only to the United States but to all of our European allies."

Moscow effectively ruled Poland from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

sky news

[Black Widow]

A Florida man has died after being repeatedly 'shocked' by a police Taser gun.

aKenneth Oliver, 45, of Miami-Dade, was targeted after causing a commotion at a friend's house.

It is reported he had been shouting and banging on a front door in the early morning.

Mr Oliver's friend Johnnie Mosely said he had considered letting him into his home, but his daughters were frightened by Mr Oliver's behaviour.

He called police and said officers, who arrived several minutes later, used a Taser gun at least four times.

Miami-Dade police say Mr Oliver went into shock while he was in custody and was pronounced dead at a hospital later that morning.

Force spokesman Bobby Williams says the death is under investigation.

The use of Taser weapons by police has caused controversy in the US.

In September 2007, a Florida university student was restrained on the ground, Tasered and arrested after asking questions at a political forum.

Earlier this year, it was revealed an American motorist - who became a celebrity after video of him being stunned with a police Taser gun appeared on YouTube - will receive about £20,000 from Utah State.

Jared Massey, 28, was arguing against a speeding ticket when he was shot.


sky news

[OMEN]

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A woman watches President Pervez Musharraf announce his resignation on TV an electronics shop in Karachi, Pakistan, on Monday
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation Monday to avoid impeachment charges, nearly nine years after the key U.S. ally in its campaign against terrorism took power in a coup.

An emotional Musharraf said he wanted to spare the country from a perilous impeachment battle and that he was satisfied that all he had done "was for the people and for the country."

"I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes," Musharraf said in a televised address, much of which was devoted to defending his record and refuting criticisms.
Musharraf said he will turn in his resignation to the National Assembly speaker on Monday but it was not immediately clear whether it would become effective the same day. The chairman of Pakistan's Senate, Mohammedmian Soomro, will take over as acting president when Musharraf steps down, Law Minister Farooq Naek said.

It also was not clear whether Musharraf would stay in Pakistan.

With Musharraf's utility fading, Western concerns appeared less interested with his ultimate fate than about how the clamor was affecting the halting efforts of the new civilian government against terrorism and the gathering economic woes.

President Bush stressed the importance of U.S.-Pakistan relationship in a statement by the White House after Musharraf announced his resignation.

"President Bush is committed to a strong Pakistan that continues its efforts to strengthen democracy and fight terror," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

The spokesman said Bush appreciates Musharraf's efforts "in the democratic transition of Pakistan as well as his commitment to fighting al-Qaida and extremist groups."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised Musharraf as “a friend to the United States and one of the world’s most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism.”

In Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said leaders of the ruling coalition would discuss later Monday whether to prosecute Musharraf in court on charges that that were being planned for the impeachment process.

'Victory of democratic forces'
Musharraf's political foes celebrated.

"It is a victory of democratic forces," Information Minister Sherry Rehman said. "Today the shadow of dictatorship, that has prevailed for long over this country, that chapter has been closed."

Musharraf dominated Pakistan for years after seizing power in a 1999 military coup, making the country a key strategic ally of the United States by supporting the war on terror. But his popularity at home sank over the years.

Many Pakistanis blame the rising militant violence in their country on Musharraf's alliance with the United States. His reputation suffered blows in 2007 when he ousted dozens of judges and imposed emergency rule. His rivals won February parliamentary elections and have since sought his ouster, announcing impeachment plans earlier this month.
Impeachment charges
Musharraf, who has been largely sidelined since his rivals came to power, had resisted the mounting calls to quit, even after the coalition finalized impeachment charges against him and threatened to send a motion to Parliament later this week.

The charges were expected to include violating the constitution and gross misconduct, likely in connection with the ouster of the judges and the declaration of emergency rule.

In announcing he would quit after all, Musharraf mentioned the many problems facing Pakistan, including its sinking economy. He said his opponents were wrong to blame him for the mounting difficulties. "I pray the government stops this down-sliding and take the country out of this crisis," he said.
Allies and rivals of the president said talks had been under way to get him to step down by possibly granting him legal immunity from future prosecution. The second biggest party in the government has said he should be tried for treason, which carries a maximum punishment of death.

Afghan reaction
In Kabul, the U.S.-backed Afghan government welcomed Musharraf's resignation, saying he "was not someone good for Afghanistan" and his departure will have a positive effect on the region.

Afghanistan has accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of being behind an April assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai and the July bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, which killed more than 60 people.

Karzai's spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, reiterated a standing Afghan government demand that Pakistan's military intelligence service cease its activities in Afghanistan.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said that Musharraf was an ally of the United States in name only. He said Afghanistan wants a Pakistani president that pursues peace by his actions, and not only through words.

Musharraf "was not someone good for Afghanistan," said Bashary. "We hope that someone good will replace him."

Speculation over next leader
Who will ultimately succeed Musharraf is an open question. There has been speculation that both Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, the leaders of the two main parties are interested in the role.

But the ruling coalition has sought to strip the presidency of many of its powers. Sharif spokesman Saiqul Farooq recently dismissed the idea that his boss wants the job because the presidency would likely be reduced to a ceremonial position.

Qureshi would not say whether Musharraf might be granted a "safe exit" — speculation has focused on whether he might go into exile in Saudi Arabia or Turkey — or dragged through the courts.

"That is a decision that has to be taken by the democratic leadership," Qureshi, who is from the main ruling Pakistan People's Party, told Dawn News television. The leaders would assess the speech and the political situation, he said.

MSNBC

[OMEN]

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A stranded rafter is lowered to shore from a helicopter after being hauled across the Colorado River on Sunday.
PHOENIX - Days of heavy rains around the Grand Canyon created flooding that breached an earthen dam Sunday and forced helicopters to pluck scores of residents and campers from the gorge. No injuries were immediately reported.

The weather and dam breach caused flooding in a side canyon containing a village where about 400 members of the Havasupai tribe live and where some of the evacuations occurred, said Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Department.

There were no confirmed reports of damage in the village, Supai, which is on high ground, Blair said. Many residents and campers chose to stay there, Blair said.
"We're not as concerned about it as we initially were," he said.

The dam breaching was only one factor in the flooding, Blair said. The dam isn't a "huge, significant" structure, he said.

Still, a flash flood warning remained in effect, and search and rescue teams planned to stay in the village overnight as a precaution. Blair said authorities were still trying to contact some people known to be in the canyon, though the majority were accounted for.

Some hiking trails and footbridges were washed out after the dam breach about 45 miles upstream from Supai, said Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge. Trees were uprooted, the National Weather Service said.

About 150 people had fled by helicopter, and evacuations continued until dark for those who wanted to leave, Blair said.

The effort was initially intended to include about 200 campers and possibly 200 village residents, Blair said, but he didn't know how many them were taken out.

As much as 8 inches of rain since Friday caused trouble even before the dam was breached. A private boating party of 16 people was stranded on a ledge at the confluence of Havasu Creek and the Colorado River on Saturday night after flood waters carried their rafts away, Oltrogge said.

The boaters were found uninjured and were rescued from the Grand Canyon, whose floor is unreachable in many places except by helicopter.

Rescuers tried to find visitors staying at the Supai Campground and escort them to safety, Oltrogge said.

Evacuees were being flown to a parking area 8 miles from Supai and then, if needed, bused to a Red Cross shelter in Peach Springs, about 60 miles southwest of Supai, said Tracey Kiest, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross. She said about 30 people were there as of Sunday night.

The area got 3 to 6 inches of ran Friday and Saturday and got about 2 more on Sunday, said Daryl Onton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Flagstaff.

"That's all it took — just a few days of very heavy thunderstorms," he said.

Supai is about 75 west of the Grand Canyon Village, a popular tourist area on the South Rim. Havasu Creek feeds the Colorado, which runs the length of the canyon.

The flooding came on a weekend during the busy summer tourist season, when thousands of visitors a day flock to the canyon for spectacular views, hikes or to raft its whitewater.

The helicopters lifting residents out were from the National Park Service, the National Guard and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Oltrogge said.

In 2001, flooding near Supai swept a 2-year-old boy and his parents to their deaths while they were hiking.

The Grand Canyon has been the traditional home of the Havasupai for centuries.

NBC

[Black Widow]

One man has died and more than 60 people have been injured after a double decker coach careered off a bridge in a Staffordshire village.

Two people critically injured in the incident have been flown from the scene in Alton by air ambulance to nearby hospitals.

The crash is understood to have occurred when a coach travelling from the nearby Alton Towers theme park collided with a number of vehicles on a bridge over the River Churnet before crashing into a garden.

Emergency services said a 20-year-old woman in a critical condition has been airlifted to a hospital in Selly Oak, Birmingham.

Another victim seriously hurt has been taken to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke on Trent.

Chief Inspector of Staffordshire police, John Maddox said the bus had "careered down a steep hill, collided with a number of vehicles, before falling off the bridge onto a private garden".

Murray Macgregor from West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed to Sky News that one man had died.

He said the tour coach had been carrying around 70 people following a visit to the nearby Alton Towers theme park, approximately half a mile away.

Forty-four 'walking wounded' were taken to Alton Towers hotel, half a mile away, for examination.

It is thought that many of the victims do not have English as their first language.

A spokeswoman for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue service said 25 firefighters were at the scene.

She said: "The heavy rescue team has just arrived and they are now going to attempt to lift the coach."

Two helicopters, eight ambulances, four rapid response cars, a doctor and two first responders were sent to the scene after the emergency services were contacted at 5.53pm.


sky news

[Black Widow]

A teenager and a man have been charged with the murders of honeymooners Catherine and Ben Mullany in Antigua, police have said.

The couple, from the Swansea Valley in South Wales, were both shot in the head in a suspected bungled robbery at the Cocos Hotel, on the Caribbean island, on July 27.

Detective Superintendent Keith Niven said: "Evidence was put before the Director of Public Prosecutions last night and the decision was taken to charge two men, a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old."

Police on the island had previously said they were questioning three people in connection with the shootings.

A total of eight people have been arrested throughout the investigation.

Some of the arrests led to drug-related charges unconnected to the Mullanys' deaths.

Two women, aged 32 and 22, appeared before magistrates in the Caribbean island's capital of St John's on Thursday last week. The charges they face are understood to relate to property stolen from the Mullanys' holiday cottage.

In a statement, police said: "A number of individuals were detained and questioned this week as a result of a proactive police operation.

"Consequently, some have been charged with drug-related offences unconnected to the Mullanys' murder.

"At this stage, we are not in a position to disclose any further information regarding these individuals.

"So far as the two females arrested and charged last week... they are still remanded in custody at Her Majesty's Prison.

"Again we are not in a position to disclose any details regarding their arrests and charges except to say they are linked to the other three persons presently in police custody."

The statement said the Director of Public Prosecutions would be consulted when inquiries were complete.

Local police are continuing to work with a team from Scotland Yard who have flown out to assist with the investigation.

Mrs Mullany, a doctor, died instantly when at least one gunman burst into the couple's isolated cottage as they slept.

The attack left her new husband, a physiotherapy student, with a bullet lodged in his head.

He died at Morriston Hospital in Swansea on July 3 after being flown home.

The 350-strong Antiguan police force has no computers, no crime database and only one forensics-trained officer.

And the force has been battling a rising tide of violent crime on the island in recent months.


sky news

[Black Widow]

By ROBIN PERRIE
Published: Today

THIS is Vikki Thorne, the woman cop nicked for allegedly working as a £100-an-hour hooker.

The brunette posed in this tiny G-string in a series of sexy snaps for a tarts’ agency called Notorious Girls.

Her face was blocked out on their website, but today we unmask the alleged WPC prostitute known as “Kelly”.

She has been suspended by her force and has gone into hiding.

A source said: “She was one of the most popular girls in the agency and entertained up to 20 clients a week.

“She made up to £500 a time for an overnight ‘girlfriend experience’.

“She’s got a great body and is very pretty. You can see why she made a lot of money.”

On her website profile, single Vikki, 28, who works for Northumbria Police, was said to be “very eager to please”.

She wore knee-high boots and sexy lingerie and was willing to take part in spanking and role-play sessions.

But she refused to wear a UNIFORM or see punters from Sunderland, where she was based at Houghton-le-Spring nick.

The businessman’s daughter, who drives an Audi TT and lives in a new detached house, was among 14 people held last week in northern England and Scotland in a police probe into prostitution and corrupting public officials.

All 14 were bailed.

Among them were the owners of Notorious Girls, Neil and Natalie Lock, both 27. The pair made £800,000 a year from the agency.


sky news




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Sexy ... Vikki Thorne in web pic


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'Hooker cop' ... how Vikki Thorne would look in uniform


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Hooker rap ... WPC Vikki Thorne is facing probe

[Black Widow]

Cyber groomer Aabid Khan, who turned a 15-year-old schoolboy into Britain's youngest terrorist, has been jailed for 12 years.

The terror tutor had managed to recruit the teenager to a "worldwide" holy war against non-Muslims.

Khan, who was possibly plotting to attack the Queen, was a "key player" in radicalising others as well.

He had spent years building up a computer "encyclopaedia" of extremist material.

By the time he met 15-year-old schoolboy Muhammad Munshi from Dewsbury he even had a file on various members of the Royal family.

He lost little time enrolling the teenager in his "mission in life" - the destruction of Western values and the "wiping out" of all "kuffar" or non-believers.

The youngster, whose grandfather is a leading Islamic scholar, was in the middle of his GCSEs when arrested on his way home from school in 2006.

London's Blackfriars Crown Court heard he had two bags of ball-bearings, the shrapnel of choice for suicide bombers, in his pockets and notes about martyrdom under his bed.

Leading a double life of obedient pupil by day and surfer of jihadist websites at night, he also downloaded detailed instructions about making napalm, other high explosives, detonators, and grenades, and "how to kill".

The schoolboy boy then sent them to his "terrorist facilitator" Khan, and fellow cell member Sultan Muhammad, who also had a large library of terror documents on his computer.

Twice-married Khan, 23, a former fast food restaurant worker from West Yorkshire, was found guilty of three counts of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism.

His cousin and "right-hand man", post office night sorter Muhammad, also 23, was convicted of three possession charges and one of making a record of information likely to be useful in terrorism. He was jailed for 10 years.

Munshi, now 18, was also found guilty of making an offence. He will be sentenced next month.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith branded all three a "very real threat" following their convictions yesterday.


sky news

[Black Widow]

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A care assistant has been caught thieving by a teddy bear.

Yvonne Allen, 28, of Halewood, Liverpool, was sentenced to six months in prison, thanks to evidence captured on a camera placed in the eye socket of the cuddly toy.

Emma Sampson and her father Robert put the plan into action after his mother Thelma noticed £40 had gone missing from her purse.

The family devised a scheme to try and discover who was stealing from the 75-year-old, who has end stage leukaemia.

Mr Sampson explained: "My daughter, who has just graduated from her forensic science degree at the University of Central Lancashire, said we should mark the bank notes and buy a camera."

The family wrote down the serial numbers on three £20 notes in the purse and bought a camera from a local DIY store.

As the lens was just like the eye of a teddy bear, they put the camera inside the toy and waited.

The film quickly revealed the culprit to be Thelma's carer from the Primary Care Trust in Liverpool.

Mr Sampson, who feared waiting a long time for any results, said: "She was greedy. We called the police and showed them the footage and gave them the serial numbers."

Mrs Allen of Oakwood Road, Halewood, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft at the Criminal Justice Centre in Liverpool and agreed to pay £60 to Thelma.

Bernie Cuthel, managing director of Liverpool PCT Provider Services, confirmed the arrest and conviction of one of their "former health care assistants".

He said the trust fully supported Merseyside police in their investigation and added: "Following information from the courts that the employee involved was pleading guilty to all charges, an internal disciplinary hearing was held and this person is no longer employed by Liverpool PCT."


sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[JohnCenaFan28]

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[JohnCenaFan28]

The global financial crisis is set to get worse, with a large US bank likely to collapse in the next few months, a former IMF chief economist has warned.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44938000/jpg/_44938085_9430c3e5-37ce-4849-8a45-b233041886a0.jpg

Kenneth Rogoff's comments came as shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sank on a report that the home lenders would, in effect, be nationalised.

Despite hopes that the US economy had turned the corner, Mr Rogoff claimed it was "not out of the woods".

"I would even go further to say 'the worst is to come'," he said.

"We're not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the next few months," said Mr Rogoff, who held the IMF role between 2001 and 2004.

"We're going to see a whopper, we're going to see a big one, one of the big investment banks or big banks."

Speaking at a conference in Singapore, Mr Rogoff, now an economics professor at Harvard, forecast that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would "probably" not exist in their present form in a few years.

"We have to see more consolidation in the financial sector before this is over."

On Monday, shares of Fannie Mae fell more than 22%, or $1.76, to close at $6.15. Shares of Freddie Mac fell almost 25%, or $1.46, to $4.39.

'Wrong move'

Shares in Freddie and Fannie first fell sharply last month on fears that they would run out of money to fund their business, forcing the US government to take radical steps to ease the panic.

The two firms are the backbone of the US mortgage market as almost all US lenders rely on them to buy their mortgages in order to access the funds to lend to consumers.

As mortgage guarantors, they must pay out when homeowners default on their loans.

With the housing market across the US crumbling, their finances have come under severe stress.

Problems in the US housing sector prompted the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates to 2% earlier this year.

But Mr Rogoff said the Fed was wrong to cut interest rates as "dramatically" as it did.

"Cutting interest rates is going to lead to a lot of inflation in the next few years in the United States," he added.


BBC News

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Zambia's leader Levy Mwanawasa, 59, has died in a Paris hospital after suffering a stroke in June.

Vice-President Rupiah Banda, who is expected to take over as acting leader, made the announcement on state TV.

President Mwanawasa suffered a stroke at an African Union summit in Egypt and was then flown to France, where he had remained in hospital.

He came to prominence recently for being one of the African leaders most critical of the violence in Zimbabwe.

Mr Mwanawasa's health was an issue during his presidency.

In April 2006, he suffered a minor stroke four months before general elections.

Donor praise

"Fellow countrymen, with deep sorrow and grief, I would like to inform the people of Zambia that our President Dr Levy Patrick Mwanawasa died this morning at 1030 hours [0830 GMT]," Reuters news agency quotes Mr Banda as saying.

"I also wish to inform the nation that national mourning starts today and will be for seven days."

On Monday, Mr Banda said that the president's health had suddenly deteriorated and he had undergone emergency surgery.

Mr Mwanawasa was chairman of the South African Development Community (Sadc) when he was taken ill in June.

In that role he had been critical of the controversial election in Zimbabwe and had said he sympathised with Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai when he withdrew from the run-off because of attacks on his supporters.

Mr Mwanawasa won a second term in 2006, having campaigned on his economic record which won him acclaim from Western donors.

When he was vice-president in the 1990s he was involved in a near-fatal road accident which left him with slurred speech.

Mr Mwanawasa famously fell out with his predecessor, Frederick Chiluba, who had handpicked him to lead the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy.

He pressed for Mr Chiluba's immunity from prosecution to be lifted and the former president was charged with stealing money during his time in office.

His critics accused Mr Mwanawasa of persecuting his political rivals under the guise of fighting corruption.

He was married and had six children. He had been a practising lawyer since 1973.

In his most famous case, he defended former Vice-President Lt-Gen Christon Tembo and others, who were charged in 1989 with plotting to overthrow Kenneth Kaunda.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The number of homes and apartments being built in the US sank in July to the lowest level in more than 17 years, government figures show.

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Builders started work on 965,000 properties, on an annualised basis, from 1.08 million in June, the Commerce Department said.

However, this was not as bleak as some had been expecting.

Separately, inflationary pressures saw US wholesale prices shoot ahead by 1.2% in July - its fastest pace in 27 years.

Core inflation, which strips out energy and food costs, climbed by 0.7% from June, the Labor Department said, well above the the 0.2% rise which had been forecast.

The rapid wholesale inflation seen in July was largely linked to energy costs during the month, which saw crude oil hit a record price of $147.27 per barrel, sending petrol prices soaring.

But there are hopes that prices rises will abate, now that the price of oil has fallen by more than $30 per barrel.

"Though commodity prices have come down significantly from record highs in mid-July and the dollar has strengthened, consumers can still expect to see increased inflation for some time to come as the producer price pressures feed through to consumer prices," said Arek Ohanissian, an economist at the CEBR.

Grim

Economists have been studying forward-looking information for signs that the US housing slump was past its worst.

However, the Commerce Department data made for grim reading, with the number of construction permits issued - seen as a reliable sign of future activity - down 17.7% on an annual basis.

And the number of new homes being constructed last month was down by 39.2% compared with July 2007.

"The continued weakening of the housing market is an additional pressure and households will feel further squeezed in terms of real disposable income," said Mr Ohanissian.

He said that "given this state of affairs and the general weakness of the economy" the Federal Reserve was likely to keep interest rates low at 2% - despite rising inflation.


BBC News

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Medical personnel help an injured passenger who survived Wednesday's crash
At least 45 people are dead and 19 seriously injured after a Canary Islands-bound airplane swerved off a runway and crashed Wednesday during takeoff at Madrid's international airport, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.
Media reports indicated the death toll could quickly climb, with Reuters citing an emergency services source as saying all but 25 people aboard the plane had died. Spanair's website said that 164 passengers and nine crew were aboard when the plane crashed around 2:45 p.m. local time.

Officials said the Spanair flight JK 5022 was bound for the popular holiday destination of Las Palmas, located on Grand Canary island off the northwestern coast of Africa.

TV footage showed a large plume of smoke rising from the site of the accident at the Madrid Barajas International Airport, located about 13 kilometres northeast of central Madrid.

El Pais editor Guy Hedgecoe told CBC News that emergency services were seen pulling passengers out of the burning plane while helicopters overhead poured water over it to try to douse the flames.
Hedgecoe said the plane was starting to leave the landing strip on takeoff when an engine on the left-hand side caught fire.

"We don't know the reason for the fire, but that seems to have caused the accident," he said.

Shortly after the fire began, the plane then descended onto the airstrip, crashed and burst into flames, he said.

The plane ended up in a wooded area at the end of a runway at the recently built Terminal 4, located on the edge of the airport grounds.

Passengers originating in Germany could also be aboard the flight since it shares a Lufthansa flight code, LH 2554.

Madrid's Barajas airport is Spain's busiest air hub, handling more than 40 million passengers a year.

CBC

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A 16-year-old boy who plunged to his death from a block of flats was trying to escape a gang of masked youths.

Police said Ahmed Benyermak climbed down the outside of the building to get away from the group.

Officers discovered the teenager after being called to Hackney, in east London, at 3.45pm yesterday.

He was pronounced dead at the scene in Paragon Road.

Witnesses said he may have feared he was about to be attacked with a knife by the hooded gang on bikes.

Scotland Yard said he managed to get down six floors on the outside of the tower block before losing his footing and falling to his death.

A post-mortem examination was due to be held at Poplar Mortuary this morning.

No arrests have been made, but police have set up an incident room under the command of Detective Chief Inspector Ian Stevenson.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


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Russia has told Nato it is halting all military co-operation, the bloc says, as the crisis over Georgia deepens.

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The Russian move follows a statement by Nato that there would be no "business as usual" with Moscow unless its troops pulled out of Georgia.

However, the alliance had stopped short of freezing co-operation with Moscow.

Meanwhile, a top Russian general said that the withdrawal of the bulk of Russia's troops would be complete in about 10 days.

Gen Vladimir Boldyrev, commander of the Russian ground forces in the region, referred to the pullout of troops "sent to reinforce Russian peacekeepers" in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.

It was not immediately clear how Gen Boldyrev's comments would fit in with a previous Russian commitment to withdraw its forces to behind a buffer zone around South Ossetia by the end of Friday.

Moscow has said it intends to keep some 500 troops in what it called a "zone of responsibility" as part of a peacekeeping mission.

In a separate development, South Ossetia and Abkhazia - another Georgia's breakaway region - held mass rallies calling for independence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow's response to their pleas would depend on the conduct of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Lavrov's warning

Nato spokeswoman Carmen Romero said the alliance "takes note" of Russia's decision to halt co-operation but had no further reaction to it.

Speaking to reporters in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Mr Lavrov said Russia was not going "shut any doors" to future co-operation with Nato.

But he warned that the alliance had to decide what was more important to it - supporting Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili or developing a partnership with Russia.

Latest footage of Russian troops near Igoeti in Georgia.

"It all depends not on us but on those who make the decisions on what the priorities are for the leaders of Nato in foreign policy," Mr Lavrov said.

Washington played down the significance of the Russian move, saying Nato had already effectively frozen co-operation in protests at Moscow's continuing military presence in Georgia.

"For all practical purposes, military-to-military co-operation had really already ended with the Russians," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Under the 2002 agreement that set up the Nato-Russia Council, the former adversaries began several co-operation projects.

These included allowing Nato to transport by land through Russia non-military supplies for the bloc's operation in Afghanistan, developing battlefield anti-missile technology, joint military exercises and help with rescue at sea.

Security zone

It is still not clear to what extent Russian military forces have withdrawn from Georgia.

Russian news agencies say an armoured column, consisting of more than 40 vehicles, has passed through South Ossetia, on its way to the Russian border.

A BBC correspondent in the Georgian village of Igoeti, just 35km (21 miles) from the capital Tbilisi, said he saw the Russian military pulling back towards South Ossetia early on Thursday afternoon. Russian forces were also reported to be still dug in around Georgia's main Black Sea port of Poti.

Russia poured troops into Georgia after Georgian forces tried to retake South Ossetia on 7 August. Russian-led peacekeeping troops had been deployed there since a war in the early 1990s.

Thousands of people attended pro-independence rallies in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi and war-ravaged South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on Thursday.

The world-renowned conductor Valery Gergiyev - himself an Ossetian - gave a concert in the devastated South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, with his St Petersburg orchestra on Thursday.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Moscow is ready to sell new weapons to Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

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Mr Lavrov said any sales of weapons of "a defensive character" would not change the strategic balance in the Middle East, without elaborating.

His comments came as the Syrian and Russian leaders held talks in Russia.

Before the talks in Sochi, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had spoken on the need to speed up military and technical co-operation with Russia.

The two countries are preparing deals on anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems, reports say.

Israel and the US have been critical of Russian arms sales to Syria.

Syria was a close ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Support over Georgia

Relations between Moscow and Damascus have been getting closer recently - this visit is Mr Assad's third to Russia in three years.

Mr Assad said on Thursday Russia's military campaign in Georgia was justified.

"I want to voice support for Russia over the situation around Abkhazia and South Ossetia... We understand the essence of the Russian position and consider its military reaction a response to provocation by the Georgian side," Mr Assad said according to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

Russia has been strongly criticised by the West for its military operations in Georgia launched earlier this month.


BBC News

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Iraq's foreign minister has said Iraq and the US are "very close" to a deal on the future of US forces in Iraq.

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Hoshyar Zebari says both sides were redoubling efforts to bring 10 months of tough negotiations to a conclusion.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - on an unannounced trip to Baghdad - said the final deal would be in line with Iraqi laws and sovereignty.

US troops' immunity from prosecution and the timing of a US pull-out remain to be resolved, correspondents say.

The draft deal being discussed includes a commitment that US troops will start to pull out of Iraq's cities from next summer, moving to large bases out of public view, says the BBC's Crispin Thorold in Baghdad.

In a joint news conference, Mr Zebari and Ms Rice said they had agreed timetables should be set for a withdrawal, adding that a framework was close, but not final yet.

"We have agreed that some goals, some aspirational timetables for how that might unfold, are well worth having in [the Status of Forces Agreement]," Ms Rice said, after meeting with Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

She said the aim remained to hand over responsibility for security to Iraqi forces.

"We are trying to put together an agreement that protects our people, that respects Iraqi sovereignty, that allows us to lay the kind of foundation that we need for making certain that we complete the work we've all sacrificed so greatly to see accomplished," she said.

Mr Zebari said officials had hoped to conclude the negotiations earlier, but he cited internal political factors for the delay.

"Really, we are very, very close to closing this agreement, and as we said from the beginning, there is no hidden agenda here," he said.

"Time is of the essence, but, really, we are redoubling our efforts to bring this to a successful conclusion," he added.

Approval process

Earlier, Ms Rice said any aspirational timeline for a US troop withdrawal had to take into consideration the situation on the ground.

Any future agreement on the status of US troops in Iraq must be approved by the US president as well as Mr Maliki and Iraq's parliament.

Other issues up for possible discussion included the status of some 20,000 prisoners held by US forces without charge and Iraqi electoral law.

A United Nations mandate for US troops to stay in Iraq expires in December.

Iraqi officials have said they would like to see US forces end routine patrols of Iraqi towns by the middle of next year, and withdraw all combat troops in the next couple of years.

There are currently around 147,000 US troops in Iraq.


BBC News

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Hundreds of Swazi women have marched through the streets of the capital to protest about a shopping trip taken by nine of the king's 13 wives.

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They chartered a plane last week to go to Europe and the Middle East.

The BBC's Thulani Mthethwa says the protesters handed in a petition to the finance ministry saying the money could have been better spent.

"We can't afford a shopping trip when a quarter of the nation lives on food aid," they chanted.

Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, is one of the poorest countries in the world and more than 40% of the population is believed to be infected with HIV.

The march was organised by Positive Living, a non-governmental organisation for women with Aids.

Our correspondent says there was a cross-section of women on the march from professionals to rural representatives.

"We need to keep that money for ARVs [anti-retrovirals]," was another slogan shouted by the women.

King Mswati III, 40, has been criticised in the past for requesting public money to pay for new palaces, a personal jet and luxury cars.

News of his wives' trip broke in the local press a day after they left, our reporter says.

Earlier this week, senior princes warned the women not to march, saying it defied Swazi tradition.


BBC News

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US combat troops could leave Iraq by 2011 under the terms of a deal awaiting approval by Iraq's parliament and presidency, an Iraqi official has said.

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The draft security agreement also calls for US forces to withdraw from all Iraqi urban areas by June 2009.

The 27-point agreement reportedly includes a compromise allowing US soldiers some immunity under Iraqi law.

The final date when US troops leave will depend largely on security, the BBC's Crispin Thorold in Baghdad says.

The decision will be taken by a joint committee, which could reduce or extend the amount of time US troops spend in the country.

Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud, the top Iraqi official negotiating with the US on the status of US forces in Iraq, said a deal had been agreed that envisaged all US combat troops leaving Iraq by 2011.

Some US troops could remain beyond 2011 "to train Iraqi security forces", the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

"The combat troops will withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 2009," Mr Hammoud said.

"Both the parties have agreed on this... The negotiators' job is done. Now it is up to the leaders."

A White House spokesman has however said details of the draft agreement were still being discussed.

Gordon Johndroe said US President George W Bush had spoken with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki about the deal.

They "had a good conversation", Mr Johndroe said, adding that "there are a lot of details that have to be worked out".

Handover aim

A deal also appears to have been struck on the controversial issue of granting US troops immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.

Mr Hammoud said the deal allowed US troops to remain immune from prosecution on military bases and while on operation.

All other cases would be considered by a joint judicial committee.

The draft deal still needs to be approved by the Iraqi Presidential Council, and critically, by the parliament.

The deal marks the end of 10 months of difficult negotiations.

Speaking on a visit to Baghdad on Thursday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the final deal would be in line with Iraqi laws and sovereignty.

Ms Rice said the aim remained to hand over responsibility for security to Iraqi forces.

There are currently around 147,000 US troops in Iraq.


BBC News

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The arrests of three men over terror offences are linked to an investigation into threats to kill Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the BBC has learned.

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The threats, also against former prime minister Tony Blair, were made in January on a recognised jihadi website.

The group posting the statement called itself "Al Qaeda in Britain" and demanded the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The men were arrested at Manchester Airport and in Accrington, Lancashire.

They were held in connection with the website threats, which included a demand for the release of Muslim prisoners from Belmarsh high-security prison in London.

Two of the men were about to board a flight to Finland. Counter-terrorist officers from Greater Manchester and Lancashire are now in Scandinavia continuing their investigations.

The arrests were a joint operation between Lancashire Police and Greater Manchester Counter Terrorism Unit.

Detectives have searched the homes of the men, aged 21, 22 and 23.

Two of the addresses searched were on Percival Street, Whalley Range, and Cromwell Street, Audley Range, in Blackburn.

Police have until Thursday to charge the men, release them or seek an extension to their custody.


BBC News

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US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is expected to reveal his choice of vice-presidential running mate within hours.

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His decision is due to be announced by text message and e-mail to party members, journalists and anyone who signs up to receive it.

Democrats gather for their party convention in Denver on Monday.

Mr Obama and his running mate are set to make their first campaign appearance together in Illinois, on Saturday.

"I've made the selection, that's all you're gonna get," Mr Obama told reporters while campaigning in Virginia on Thursday.

Text alert

In an interview with USA Today newspaper, the Illinois senator said he had selected a running mate who was independent and would challenge him in the White House.

He added that he had opted for someone who would help him strengthen the economy, and was also ready to act as president.

But Mr Obama gave no clue as to whether he had notified his preferred running mate yet.

It is possible the Obama camp might keep the name of the vice-presidential selection a secret until just before the appearance in Springfield on Saturday but, realistically, that seems unlikely, says the BBC's North America editor, Justin Webb.

The expectation is that during the course of Friday a text message will be received by those who have signed up for it, revealing the name.

Surprise in store?

The conventional wisdom is that vice-presidential candidates do not swing elections, our editor reports.

But Mr Obama's choice is interesting because it will reveal a little more about the style of the man and how willing he is to be adventurous.

Most commentators believe he will play it safe, opting for a governor, perhaps Tim Kaine of Virginia, or a political veteran like Senator Joe Biden.

Some Democrats are hoping he has a surprise up his sleeve - a Hillary Clinton or an Al Gore.

Mr Obama's rival, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, has reportedly not settled on a running mate.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney are reported to be under serious consideration for the role.


BBC News

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Russia has seen foreign reserves decline, a sign that the market is more nervous about investing in the region since the recent conflict in Georgia.

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Central Bank figures show reserves were sharply down in the week ending 15 August, marking a fall of $16.4bn (£8.8bn) from $597.5bn a week earlier.

Tensions with the west have also been strained by Russia's objection to the US placing a missile defence in Poland.

Georgia has urged the west to invest in the region as it seeks to rebuild.

According to the Financial Times, the latest drop in capital reserves is the largest "since comparable figures began" in 1998, though similar funds were taken out during the currency crisis.

Reconstruction

Finance ministers from the group of seven richest nations have said they are "ready to support" Georgia's economic reconstruction in the wake of conflict with Russia.

The US Treasury issued a statement on the G7 countries' behalf saying they would be ready to help Georgia "to maintain confidence in Georgia's financial system and support economic reconstruction."

He also called on Georgian authorities, the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, and European Commission to "identify and support reconstruction needs and the restoration of services that will build a base for future economic growth".

Officials from the World Bank are visiting Georgia on Friday to assess the extent of damage to its economy and how the process of reconstruction can begin.

The development body has pledged to help Georgia access funding to rebuild crucial infrastructure, such as roads and railway lines.

It has also promised to assist people displaced by the fighting in South Ossetia and in Georgia itself.

The US and Poland signed a deal earlier this week to locate part of the US missile defence system on Polish soil, but Russia has warned the base could become a target for a nuclear strike.

Such geopolitical concerns have been a factor pushing up oil prices, amid fears that supplies might be hampered.

"Investors are realising that the bear has put its paw on the pipeline, and geopolitical risk is likely to remain a theme for the next month or so," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, investment director at Seven Investment Management.


BBC News

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The UK's most senior policeman has been accused of a racist campaign against one of his closest colleagues.

According to a source close to Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, his legal representatives formally submitted his employment tribunal claims on Friday night.

They include allegations that Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and other senior members of the Met played a role in a campaign of harassment and discrimination against him.

The source said: "Ghaffur is very unhappy because the Met is briefing against him.

"Details of the claim will not be available to anyone until next week."

Sir Ian has rejected the claims and said he has a "long, honourable and occasionally blood-stained record on the championing of diversity".

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said he was not aware any papers had been lodged.

No one at the tribunal was available to comment.

It is the first time an officer of such seniority has sued the Met and it threatens to plunge the force's leadership into crisis.

Mr Ghaffur is understood to be claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds in loss of earnings and damages.

A rift between the two senior officers emerged in June with news of an allegedly damning dossier of evidence prepared by Mr Ghaffur.

Colleagues said the officer, who is responsible for Olympic security preparations, has been treated "extremely poorly".

Attempts to head off a full-scale employment tribunal with mediation failed after the two parties could not even agree the terms for talks.

It emerged earlier this week that Mr Ghaffur was bugged and photographed as part of an investigation into another senior officer.

Officers recorded meetings between Mr Ghaffur and Commander Ali Dizaei in 2000 and 2001 as part of an ill-fated corruption inquiry.

Mr Dizaei was cleared of perverting the course of justice and fiddling his expenses at the Old Bailey in 2003.

Sir Ian has already been forced to defend his record on diversity at an employment tribunal this year.

Commander Shabir Hussain, another of his most senior colleagues, claimed he was repeatedly overlooked for promotion in favour of white candidates.

The 45-year-old officer has alleged racial discrimination against the Metropolitan Police Authority, its chairman Len Duvall and Sir Ian.

A decision by the tribunal panel is expected within the next month.


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The head of the opposition party in the Indian state of West Bengal has called for an indefinite siege of the factory building the world's cheapest car.

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Mamata Banerjee's call came after Tata, one of India's biggest firms, threatened to halt production of the Nano in the communist-ruled state.

Opposition groups have been protesting over claims the state seized 403 hectares (997 acres) of local farmland.

Tata plans to launch the Nano at about $2,500 (£1,340) later this year.

Fears for state's future

Mamata Banerjee, leader of the Trinamool Congress party, is not a woman who looks like she is about to change her mind.

In spite of the threat by Tata's owner, Ratan Tata, to move the plant from Singur if the agitation continues, her party has announced an indefinite siege of the factory from Sunday.

She wants 160 hectares (400 acres) of land returned to local farmers and she told me that she is not in the mood for a compromise.

"We are not interested who is Tata or data," she said.

"A good industrialist has also to be a good human being. The road is very clear - we are in favour of positive development. But if someone tries to blackmail us we will not bow our heads."

As the uncertainty over the plant continues, a number of other states in India have come forward and said they are more than happy to build the Nano.

That will worry the state government here who are desperately trying to attract investors who for years have been put off by its communist policies.

"Generally the government of West Bengal and the people should understand that the end result of what Tata is doing will be good for the state and the people of West Bengal," one businessman said.

Another was concerned about the message Tata's departure would send out about the state's image.

"We do not want Tata to go - we want them to expand," he said.

Negotiations are continuing to try and resolve this impasse. At the moment though the future of the world's cheapest car appears to be in doubt.


BBC News

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Two boats carrying members of a US-based pro-Palestinian group have arrived in the Gaza Strip, despite an Israeli blockade of the territory.

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Israel earlier said they would be let in, saying they would not be given the chance to have a "provocation at sea".

The boats left the port of Larnaca in Cyprus on Friday morning.

The Free Gaza protest group said about 40 activists from 14 countries were on board the boats to highlight the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in June 2007 when the militant group Hamas took control of the territory by force.

Since then, Israel has allowed in little more than basic humanitarian aid as a means of isolating Hamas and persuading militant groups to stop firing rockets into Israel.

The closure of Gaza's borders by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities has also meant that very few Gazans have been able to leave.

'No provocation'

Before Free Gaza's boats set sail on Friday, the Israeli foreign ministry had said they wanted the activists to steer clear of the Gazan coastline, which it said was "the subject of an [Israeli Navy] advisory notice" that warns off foreign vessels from the "designated maritime zone".

But on Saturday, an Israeli spokesman said they would be allowed in.

"They wanted provocation at sea, but they won't get it," foreign ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron told the AFP news agency.

"We know who the passengers are and what they are bringing with them and so we have no problem letting them through."

The two vessels - named Liberty and Free Gaza - are carrying 200 hearing aids for children and 5,000 balloons.

"No matter what happens we have already achieved our goal by proving that ordinary citizens with ordinary means can mobilise a defence of human rights for Palestinians," organiser Paul Larudee told the AFP news agency.

"We want people to see the Palestinian problem as one of human rights, not feeding them rice," he added.

The activists on board the boats include Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of UK former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is now an international Middle East peace envoy. Also on board is left-wing Greek MP Tasos Kourakis.

Israel withdrew its settlers from Gaza in 2005, but it still controls its coast, airspace and borders, and, until a ceasefire with Hamas was agreed in June, carried out regular military operations in the territory.

However, correspondents say the truce has not improved the situation for Gaza's population, except to reduce the number of Israeli incursions and the number of rockets fired by Palestinian militants.


BBC News

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Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has agreed to run for the presidency of Pakistan, says his Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

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The announcement was made by a party official, a day after Mr Zardari's nomination by the PPP, the biggest party in the coalition government.

Parliament will vote next month to choose a successor to President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned on Monday.

Mr Zardari became PPP leader after Ms Bhutto was assassinated in December.

He had spent years in exile following corruption charges,

The parliamentary and provincial assembly elections to replace Mr Musharraf, who quit in the face of the threat of impeachment by his political enemies, will take place on 6 September.

There will be plenty of political horse-trading, but Mr Zardari is clearly the favourite to win, says the BBC's Chris Morris in Islamabad.

But his decision to accept the nomination is not without controversy and could lead to the collapse of the PPP's coalition, our correspondent adds.

Mr Zardari's main coalition partner, Nawaz Sharif of the PML-N, has said he is not in favour of Ms Bhutto's widower getting the job and prefers what he calls a consensus president.

The two men are also deadlocked over how many of the judges sacked by Mr Musharraf during emergency rule last November should be reinstated.

Mr Zardari is worried the deposed chief justice might seek to overturn an amnesty on corruption charges, which allowed Mr Zardari and Ms Bhutto to return to Pakistan, our correspondent adds.

The latest political developments come against a backdrop of increasing violence.

Pakistani troops say they killed 35 militants in fighting in the Swat Valley, north-west of Islamabad, on Saturday, shortly after a suicide bomber killed eight policemen.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

One of the 19 survivors of Wednesday's plane crash at the Barajas airport near Madrid has died, bringing the number of people killed in the crash to 154.

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Maria Luisa Estevez Gonzalez died from her injuries in hospital in Madrid, according to the city's health service.

She had been badly burned when Spanair flight JK 5022, bound for the Canary Islands, crashed just after take-off.

Madrid's health service said that two other survivors remain in a very serious condition.

DNA techniques

The Spanish government has promised a full investigation into the crash, which is the country's worst air accident in 25 years.

Spain's Interior Minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, has said that 53 of the people killed in the crash had been identified using their fingerprints.

Most of the remaining victims will have to be identified using DNA techniques because they were so badly burned in the accident.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

A passenger plane has crashed shortly after take-off from Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, killing a large number of those on board.

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The head of Kyrgyzstan's civil aviation authority said that out of about 90 passengers and crew, only about 20 people have survived.

The Itek Air Boeing 737 took off bound for Mashhad, in north-eastern Iran, but turned round some 10 minutes later.

An airport spokeswoman said the crew had reported a technical problem.

The plane was returning to Bishkek airport but crashed before it could land, the spokeswoman said.

Officials from a nearby US base said they were trying to help with the rescue effort.

"At the moment rescue teams, fire brigades and medics are rushing to the crash site," a spokeswoman for the US air base located in Manas, 30km (20 miles) from Bishkek, told Russia's RIA news agency.

Uncertainty

There was confusion over the number of people on board - with reports ranging from 83 to 123.

They were understood to include a Kyrgyz school basketball team.

Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said 51 of the passengers were foreigners, including people from China, Turkey, Iran and Canada.

It was not clear what had caused the plane to crash.

The prime minister said the pilot had survived, but "it is difficult to talk to him right now".

Airport employees said the fuselage of the plane was destroyed by flames and only the tail remained intact.

Yelena Bayalinova, spokeswoman for the Kyrgyz health ministry, told the Interfax news agency that many victims of the crash had suffered burns, and that some were in critical condition.

The plane belonged to Itek Air, a Kyrgyz company, but was reportedly operated by Iran Aseman Airlines.

Itek Air is on a list of airlines banned from EU airspace because of fears over safety standards.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Five US aid workers are among 10 people who died in a plane crash in Guatemala on Sunday, police in the Central American state say.

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The Guatemalan pilot and co-pilot were also killed when the small aircraft crashed about 90km (55 miles) east of the capital, Guatemala City.

Four other Americans injured on the plane were airlifted to hospital.

Initial reports suggest engine failure was to blame for the crash of the single-engine Cessna Caravan 208.

Victims' bodies were reportedly badly burnt, making it difficult to identify them and establish their nationalities.

'The engine just stopped'

The pilot reported engine trouble about 45 minutes after take-off and tried to make an emergency landing, Civil Aviation director Jose Carlos said.

The plane, which had been en route to El Estor close to the Caribbean coast, came down in a field of crops.

The survivors were ferried to Guatemala City by helicopter.

US citizen Sarah Jensen, 19, said her father and brother had been killed and her mother badly burned on her arms and legs.

"Ten minutes before [the crash] the engine just stopped and then we coasted," she told Reuters news agency, as she limped across the tarmac.

"We tried to land in a field but we overshot. The people on the left side of the plane were okay because there was a big door."

Ms Jensen and her family had been on a mission to build houses in a village near El Estor.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Rescue teams and France's interior minister say there is little hope of saving several climbers swept away by an avalanche in the Mont Blanc range.

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At least eight people are thought to be trapped under the snow. They were among a party of climbers hit by a wall of snow 200m (600ft) long and 50m wide.

Eight survived the snowslide and were taken to a hospital in Chamonix.

The search for survivors, involving helicopters and rescuers with dogs, has been hindered by new avalanche threats.

Officials said the eight missing on the Mont-Blanc du Tacul mountain included five Austrians and two Swiss climbers.

Originally there were reported to be 10 people missing, but police later revised that figure to eight, the AFP news agency reported.

However France's Interior Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, said it was impossible to know for certain how many were missing.

The minister, who flew into the area on Sunday evening, said that by then there was "no longer any chance of finding someone alive".

That echoed the opinion of a search official interviewed on LCI television, who said there was "no hope" of recovering anyone alive.

After a day in which 40 searchers, with specially trained dogs, and three helicopters failed to find any trace of the missing adventurers, the search was called off. Officials said conditions and the threat of fresh avalanches made it too dangerous to continue.

'Wall of ice'

The eight people brought to safety were reported to include five French climbers and three Italians, aged between 26 and 37 years.

One, Italian Marco Delfini, told LCI he saw "a wall of ice coming towards us and then we were carried 200 metres".

"I was not completely submerged... I managed to help the others," he said.

The avalanche is believed to have happened at about 0300 (0100 GMT), after a large block of glacier ice broke off higher up the mountain. Often climbers set out very early in the morning when attempting a major trek.

"It's probable, according to statements made to us, that the climbers roped together were on the path up the mountain, and in the place where the block of ice tumbled down," Eric Fournier, the mayor of nearby Chamonix, told AFP.

The BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says it has been a lethal summer in the Alps with about 100 climbers killed since 1 June in France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland - about 20 of them have died on Mont Blanc.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

A suicide bomber has attacked a celebratory feast in Baghdad's western Abu Ghraib district, killing at least 25 people, according to police.

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About 30 people are also reported to have been injured when the attacker detonated an explosive vest.

The explosion took place at the home of a tribal sheikh, attended by police and members of the Sunni "Awakening" group, which opposes al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The guests were celebrating the release of a local man from US detention.

The attack took place at around 2030 local time (1730 GMT), according to an interior ministry official.

Abu Ghraib is a mainly Sunni district between central Baghdad and Fallujah.

Al-Qaeda has warned that it will target members of Sunni Awakening groups, which have sprung up across Iraq and which are supported and financed by the US military.

Awakening groups first appeared in the western province of Anbar in 2006 when Sunni tribal leaders started to turn against Al-Qaeda.


BBC News

[Black Widow]

Row Over Hindley Image In Beijing


Downing Street and the London Mayor have condemned a video showing a Myra Hindley portrait after the footage was shown in Beijing.

The picture of the Moors murderer appeared in a Visit London promotional video shown at London House, where the Prime Minister, Mayor and British Olympic team celebrated the handover of the Games.

The three-minute film was supposed to highlight the capital's cultural heritage ahead of London 2012.

The notorious piece of art by Marcus Harvey was seen during a segment of the video filmed in a gallery where it was on display.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The use of this image is in extremely poor
taste and it should not have been used to promote London."

And speaking from Beijing, Sky News' chief political correspondent Jon Craig said that a senior Government source told him: "It is a total disgrace.

"This proud night for Britain has been sullied by this grotesque representation of London.

"Clearly whoever was responsible must be found and fired immediately."

A spokesman for Boris Johnson said the Mayor was "deeply disturbed".

But Visit London described the reaction as "out of proportion".

In a statement it said: "The video is not for general public use and has been used many times over the last few years to show to the tourism trade.

"There has never been a complaint made about the video up until this point.

"However, if any offence has been caused, we will withdraw it from use with immediate effect."

The painting, made from children's handprints, was vandalised while on display in the Royal Academy in 1997.

Hindley was jailed for life along with her lover Ian Brady for the murders of four children between 1963 and 1964. She died in 2002.


sky news

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[John]

Warner Bros is suing an Indian film studio over their plans to release a film called Hari Puttar

The studio believes the film, which concerns a 10-year-old Indian boy who moves to the UK, infringes on the copyright of their Harry Potter franchise.

A Warner Bros spokesperson said: "We have recently commenced proceedings against parties involved in the production and distribution of a movie entitled Hari Puttar. Warner Bros values and protects intellectual property rights. However, it is our policy not to discuss publicly the details of any ongoing litigation."

The CEO of the Indian film company responsible for the film said: "Since the case is sub-judice, we can't comment as of now. However, we registered the Hari Puttar title in 2005, and it's unfortunate.
---------------------------------------------
Source-Yahoo.com

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has won a landslide victory in a by-election in Penang.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44959000/jpg/_44959009_-2.jpg

A high turnout saw his People's Justice Party winning 31,195 of 47,000 votes, the Election Commission said.

The result returns Mr Anwar to parliament after a decade's absence, and comes despite sodomy charges he says are politically motivated.

The 61-year-old has been trying to make his political comeback since a ban on seeking public office expired in April.

He had been expected to win but the level of support for him was substantial - gaining almost double the votes of his opponent, reports the BBC's Robin Brant from Penang.

'Critical point'

Mr Anwar told the BBC the overwhelming by-election victory was a "key point of departure" for his coalition in its campaign to bring down the government.

"It is an endorsement of our policies and a rejection of the obsolete policies, the corrupt policies of the government," he said.

He added that Malaysia's embattled Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi "must take heed of the sentiments and the call of Malaysians".

Mr Anwar defeated Arif Shah Omar of the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition.

Although only a single seat was at stake, the event transfixed Malaysians. While the result will not change the balance of power, it will strengthen Mr Anwar's hand in his campaign to become the next prime minister, our correspondent adds.

Thousands of rival supporters had flooded into the small area of Permatang Pauh to try to help or hinder Mr Anwar, and there was a heavy police presence in Penang as votes were cast.

"The Malaysians consider this a critical point in our history, whether we get the mandate to chart a new course for Malaysia or we should just be happy with the same corrupt establishment," Mr Anwar told reporters before the vote.

'Jihad'

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who lead the ruling party's campaign, told the BBC the vote represented a "titanic struggle".

One senior government politician even described it as a "jihad".

Observers said government-controlled newspapers had led an assault on Mr Anwar, emphasising the sodomy allegations against him.

Voting irregularities were uncovered, and several Israeli flags were also put up - in an apparent attempt by government supporters to persuade the mainly Muslim voters that the opposition leader was sympathetic to the Jewish state.

Mr Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998, and jailed for six years for sodomy and corruption - allegations he always denied.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

At least 25 people have been killed and more than 40 others injured in a suicide bomb attack in the Iraqi province of Diyala, police say.

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The bomber attacked a queue of police recruits in the town of Jalawlah, just before midday local time (0900 GMT).

This is the latest in a series of attacks, launched mainly by Sunni Islamists in Diyala.

Last month, Iraqi forces detained hundreds of people in the province in operations against Sunni insurgents.

Stopped by police

The suicide bomber ran into a crowd of young Iraqis outside a police recruitment centre in the town of Jalawlah before detonating an explosive vest, according to local police.

The attacker is reported to have arrived at the recruitment centre by car, where his vehicle was stopped by police.

However, he is reported to have jumped out of the car and run into the crowd of recruits.

Diyala has emerged as one of Iraq's most dangerous regions.

Groups in the province linked to al-Qaeda regularly attack members of Sunni "Awakening" groups - former insurgents who have turned against al-Qaeda and which are supported and financed by the US military.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The dollar has climbed back to a six-month high against the euro, as continuing fears about the European economy hit the single currency.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44903000/jpg/_44903704_moneychangerexchangingeurosfordollars.jp g

With a key German business sentiment survey posting its worst reading in three years, the euro fell as low as $1.4571 in Tuesday trading.

Data showing that the German economy contracted from April to June, also increased European recession fears.

Meanwhile, the pound fell to $1.8331, its lowest point since July 2006.

Deteriorating outlook

The US currency has benefited as the economic outlook has darkened in both mainland Europe and the UK.

Investment guru Warren Buffett said last week that he had no bets against the dollar - underscoring the currency's strength. The fall in the euro and sterling could help European exporters whose goods will now be cheaper overseas.

But it will hurt holidaymakers who have benefited from a strong pound when travelling to countries which use the dollar.

While the dollar resumed its rises on Tuesday, oil prices fell.

US light crude was down 67 cents to $114.44, while London's Brent fell 64 cents to $113.39.


BBC News

[John]

An investigation is under way into how a computer containing bank customers' personal data was sold on an internet auction site.

The computer, which was sold for £77 on eBay, had sensitive information on the hard drive.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and its subsidiary, Natwest, have confirmed their customers' details were involved.

RBS said an archiving firm told it the computer had been "inappropriately sold on via a third party".

It said historical information relating to credit card applications for its bank and others had been on the machine.

Basic knowledge

The information is said to include account details and in some cases customers' signatures, mobile phone numbers and mothers' maiden names.



Andrew Champman on how he 'bought' bank customers' details
The problem came to light when IT manager Andrew Chapman, 56, from Oxford, bought the computer, noticed the data and raised the alarm.

He said: "I was appalled when I found the bank account information. That sort of thing shouldn't have been listed on there."

Mr Chapman said anyone with a basic knowledge of computer software would have been able to find the data fairly simply.

"The information was in back-up CDs and in ISO files so it would have been possibly quite easy to find if you know something about computers," he said.

Extremely regrettable
RBS and Natwest - two of the three businesses involved - said they were taking the issue very seriously and are working to resolve it "as a matter of urgency".

A spokeswoman for data processing company Mail Source, which is part of the archiving firm Graphic Data, said it was investigating how the computer equipment had been removed from a secure location.

"The IT equipment that appeared on eBay was neither planned nor instructed by the company to be disposed," she said.

The incident was extremely regrettable and the firm was "taking every possible step" to retrieve the data and ensure it was an isolated incident, she added
The Daily Mail said the computer contained one million bank customers' personal data.

A spokesman for eBay said they were currently looking into what had happened.

"Clearly such details should never have been included in the hard drive of the computer offered for sale on eBay," said the spokesman.

"We fully expect Mr Chapman to hand it back to Graphic Data as soon as possible. We will of course work with Graphic Data to establish how it came to be available for sale on our site."

A spokeswoman for the third company reported to be involved, American Express, said it took the security of its card members' data "extremely seriously".

"We are currently working as a matter of priority to establish exactly what data is impacted and identify the card members who may be affected," she said.

The Information Commissioner's Office said an investigation would be launched as soon as Mr Chapman had handed the computer in to them.

A spokeswoman said: "We are now investigating this potential data breach and will be seeking an urgent explanation from Graphic Data to establish what has gone wrong and the steps that are being taken to prevent a similar incident occurring."

Banks have an obligation under the Data Protection Act to keep all personal information secure.

Last year the Financial Services Authority fined the Nationwide Building Society £980,000 for a security breach, after a laptop containing customer data was stolen from an employee's home
---------------------------------
Source-Yahoo.com

[John]

Priest cancels nun beauty contest

An Italian priest who said he wanted to hold the world's first beauty contest for nuns has decided to cancel the project, saying he was misunderstood.

Antonio Rungi said he had never intended to put sisters on the catwalk, but had wanted to erase a stereotype of them as being old and dour.

He had wanted to hold the contest online on his internet blog.

Father Rungi said he changed his mind after the local religious authorities expressed their displeasure.

"My superiors were not happy. The local bishop was not happy, but they did not understand me either," Father Rungi told Reuters news agency from the town of Mondragone, near Naples.

"It was interpreted as more of a physical thing," he said. "Now, no one is saying that nuns can't be beautiful, but I was thinking about something more complete."

He said he had intended to showcase the good works that nuns do, especially in education and health care, so as to boost interest in religious vocations.

"We have to draw more attention to the world of nuns, who are often not sufficiently appreciated by society," he wrote in his blog.

"Nuns are - above all - women, and beauty is a gift from God," he told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper before he cancelled the project.

He had wanted nuns to send their photos to him, so that internet users could then choose the winner.

Father Rungi said the idea of the contest had been put to him by nuns themselves.

------------
Provided by-bbc.com

[John]

Thanks for this! Its interesting who decided this and how this happens.

[John]

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - An elderly woman misunderstood instructions while checking in at Sweden's main airport and was whisked down a baggage shoot after she placed herself instead of her luggage on the belt, media reported Wednesday.

The 78-year-old woman, who was not named, was preparing to fly from Stockholm's Arlanda airport to Germany on Tuesday when she lay down on an unmanned baggage belt in the belief she was following check-in instructions, the Upsala Nya Tidning local daily reported on its website.

She was quickly swept off to the baggage handling centre, where staff members helped get her back on her feet.

The woman suffered no serious injury and caught her flight as planned.
--------
Source-Yahoo.com

[John]

A Thomas Cook Boeing 757 taking British holidaymakers to Spain's Canary Islands on Wednesday made an emergency landing in Faro, southern Portugal, airport sources said.

The sources described the landing as a part of "normal airport activity," saying it was usual for captains to land at the nearest airport when facing an "unforeseen situation."

The plane was carrying 210 passengers who had boarded it in London.

The emergency landing occurred one week after a Spanair plane en route to the Canaries crashed in the Spanish capital Madrid, killing 154 people
-topnews.in

[John]

Thanks for the read! Very interesting read!

[John]

Vienna - Former hurdler Elmar Lichtenegger was banned for life Wednesday by the Austrian athletics federation for a second positive doping test.

The ban will apply to all international and national sport, the federation ruled.

Lichtenegger, 34, retired from athletics in December last year a few days after testing positive for the banned substance Norandrosteron, a metabolite of the anabolic steroid Nandrolone.

He had been banned for 15 months in 2003/2004 for a similar doping offence. In both cases, Lichtenegger blamed tainted food supplements for the positive result.

Lichtenegger was a silver medallist in the 110-metre hurdles at the 2002 European indoor championships.
-Topnews.in

[JohnCenaFan28]

As many as 71 African migrants drowned after their boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea, eight of their companions have told Maltese police.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44964000/jpg/_44964491_maltaboatafp226b.jpg

The survivors were rescued by a fishing vessel from a semi-submerged dinghy about 70km (40 miles) off Malta, then handed over to a Maltese military boat.

The ship and a military aircraft searched the area for other survivors but none were found, the police said.

Malta - the smallest EU member state - is a leading destination for migrants.

More than 1,000 have managed to reach the island so far this year, mainly from Libya and North Africa. On Sunday, more than 100 were brought ashore in two separate operations off the Maltese coast.

The last major loss of life off Malta's coast came in May 2007, when a small boat adrift went missing with at least 53 migrants on board.

"Notwithstanding that they know about [previous] tragedies, these desperate people still try and make the journey to Europe," Neil Falzon, a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Malta, told the AFP news agency.

Mr Falzon said that if the number of fatalities was confirmed, it would serve to highlight "the need for assistance to these people".

In June, the European Parliament passed a controversial set of EU rules for dealing with illegal migrants, which allow those caught to be detained for up to 18 months and face a five-year re-entry ban.

Lawmakers backed the measures by a large majority despite opposition from many Socialist and Green parties, and condemnation from human rights groups.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Bill Clinton is to address the US Democratic Party convention - his speech closely watched for signs of his commitment to Barack Obama's campaign.

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The former president's wife, Hillary, lost to Mr Obama in her bid to become the Democrats' White House nominee.

She has now backed her rival and freed her supporters to rally behind him. A roll call vote of the states has begun, leading to his formal nomination.

Mr Clinton will be followed by Joe Biden, Mr Obama's running-mate.

Mr Obama has arrived in Denver, where the convention is taking place, but is not due to speak until Thursday.

The roll call of states taking place ahead of Wednesday's speeches will confirm his formal nomination as presidential candidate - the first African-American to be nominated for a major US political party.

He will stand against Republican John McCain in the 4 November presidential election.

The BBC's North America editor Justin Webb says the roll call will be an opportunity for Hillary Clinton's supporters to decide whether to fall in line, to unite as she asked them to on Tuesday, or to kick up a fuss and hold out for her.

Speaking to a crowd of about 3,000 people ahead of the roll call, Mrs Clinton released her delegates - supporters won by her during the primary election process - to vote for Mr Obama.

"This has been a joy. We didn't make it, but boy did we have a good time trying," she said.

Many in the crowd shouted back "No!" as she released them, but Mrs Clinton urged them to put the party first.

"We will leave Denver united," she said. "My goal is that we win in November."

The roll call for the nomination - in which each state, in alphabetical order, declares how many votes were cast for each candidate in the primaries - includes Mrs Clinton's name, in a bid to placate her disappointed supporters.

Experienced shoulders

In his address, Mr Clinton is expected to launch attacks on Mr McCain and on the Bush administration, particularly over the state of the US economy.

His speech will be closely scrutinised for signs of lingering resentment over the bruising primary Democratic campaign, which ended in defeat for his wife, correspondents say.

Wednesday's addresses are expected to focus on foreign policy and security.

Some observers say the topics have been weak points of Senator Obama's campaign so far.

Senator Biden, 65, is a veteran foreign policy expert who was chosen as vice-presidential candidate by 47-year-old Mr Obama partly on account of his experience.

Mr Obama will headline Thursday's convention speeches, having spent the first part of the week campaigning in battleground states, and will formally accept the party's nomination then.

'Unite'

Speaking at the convention on Tuesday, Mrs Clinton said the Democrats could not afford to lose to the Republicans.

"Whether you voted for me or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose," she said.

Some of the defeated candidate's supporters have suggested they will not vote for her former rival, but she asked them to remember why they were in the campaign.

Mrs Clinton accused John McCain of being indifferent to the economic slowdown and of failing to recognise the need for health and social reform.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Pakistan's military says it has killed 47 pro-Taleban militants in separate incidents in the rugged west of the country, bordering Afghanistan.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44963000/jpg/_44963773_pakistanitroops_ap226b.jpg

Thirty-seven militants were killed in helicopter-gunship attacks in Bajaur area, an army spokesman told the BBC.

The figures cannot be confirmed. Locals in Bajaur told the BBC five people had been killed in the violence.

A further 11 militants were killed - and more than 15 hurt - in fighting in South Waziristan, the military said.

According to the military, "around 75 -100 militants attacked Tiarza fort and Tiarza Bridge Check Post in South Waziristan" late on Tuesday.

"Security forces responded effectively and repulsed the attack," the military said.

Parts of the South Waziristan region, including the town of Wana, were placed under curfew after the clash.

On Thursday, an army convoy in Wana's main market was attacked by militants.

Locals in Wana have told the BBC the town is currently the scene of fierce fighting between militants and security forces.

Attacks on Taleban

Meanwhile, in the Salarzai area of Bajaur, a suspected member of the Taleban militia has been beaten to death.

The man was attacked near the funeral of two tribal leaders, Malik Zareen and Malik Bakhtawar, who were killed in a rocket attack on Monday.

The leaders had been trying to raise a tribal force to combat the Taleban in the area.

The Taleban denied having anything to do with the rocket attack.

The BBC has learnt that locals in Salarzai have decided to oppose the Taleban.

A building used by the Taleban as their headquarters in the area has been burnt down by armed Salarzai men.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Two hijackers of a Sudanese plane flown to Libya have given themselves up in the desert town of Kufra.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44963000/jpg/_44963776_sudangrab226.jpg

The surrender comes almost 24 hours after they seized the plane, shortly after it left Nyala in Darfur.

The crew have also been freed - earlier all 95 passengers on board the Sun Air Boeing 737 had been released.

There are some reports that the hijackers were members of a Darfur rebel group but this was strongly denied by the group's leader.

"The hijackers surrendered without any violence and the crew are safe and sound," a Libyan official said, according to the AFP news agency.

A Sudanese diplomat in Kufra told the AP news agency that the two men were taken into the airport building, looking exhausted.

Mohammed al-Balla Othman said the men had requested asylum in Libya. Sudan had earlier demanded they be extradited.

The man had earlier demanded fuel to fly to France and one official said they wanted to be given refugee status there.

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says a plane is being prepared to transport the freed passengers to Khartoum.

She says that video footage on Libya's state-run television showed the released passengers in the airport lounge looking relieved but tired.

"The night was terrifying and difficult," one man said. "I thank the Libyan authorities for their efforts which allowed us to be freed."

Another said the hijackers had been armed with pistols.

Before the passengers were freed, some fainted after the plane's air-conditioning failed, the pilot said.

The plane had been on its way to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Tuesday, when the men took control.

It initially tried to land in Cairo, Egypt, where it was denied permission to land.

Humanitarian corridor

Sudanese officials say the hijackers belong to one of the numerous rebel groups fighting in Darfur.
map

According to the director of Kufra airport, who was quoted by Libyan media, the hijackers told the pilot they were from the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army of Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur.

Mr Nur, who is based in Paris, has strongly denied any involvement in the hijacking.

"We categorically deny the responsibility of our movement in this hijacking operation," he told al-Jazeera television.

"We don't support putting the lives of Sudanese civilians at risk in any circumstances."

Three members of a different SLA faction, led by Minni Minawi, were aboard the plane.

A spokesman for this faction, the only one to sign a 2006 peace deal with the government, has also denied any involvement in the hijacking.

A five-year conflict in Darfur has left about 200,000 people dead and more than two million homeless.

The desert oasis of Kufra is in a remote region approximately 1,700km (1,050 miles) south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

It is an area close to both the Sudanese and Chadian borders, and is often used as a corridor for humanitarian aid for displaced Darfuri refugees in Chad, as well as a transit point into the country by illegal immigrants, says the BBC's Rana Jawad, in Tripoli.


BBC News

[John]

Thanks for the read!

[John]

The annual summer Proms which has been taking place in London's Royal Albert Hall since 1895, is a musical institution beloved by many.

But not so much, apparently, by the Health & Safety brigade.

Officials there are demanding that musicians turn the volume down during their performances in case the noise damages people's hearing.

They say that, under the newly introduced EU laws, maximum noise level must now not be more than 140 decibels - about the same level as a gunshot or firecracker.

Health and safety is reportedly to be really pulling out the stops by telling performers to cut out the soaring crescendos and turn down the volume on the trumpets.

They fear the flautists' delicate hearing may be harmed if they're sitting too close to the trumpets, so they have had the brass neck to insist on the spacing being changed.

The BBC, which puts on the Proms every year, is on the horns of a dilemma - it may want to please its audience but it must comply with the directive.

Its staff - the unsung heroes of the piece - have been rushing around moving to separate performers' chair to give them more space, and stocking up on ear plugs.

Cynics say Europe is once more trying to put the wind up British traditionalists, by trying to fine tune something that is already pitch perfect.

They accuse the EU of being off key - and all say they all hope that this year's Proms do not end on a 'bum' note.

-Source-Yahoo.com

[John]

Brown given November deadline to save his job

By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
Thursday, 28 August 2008

Cabinet ministers will give Gordon Brown "one last chance" to save his premiership but will try to oust him by November if he fails to improve Labour's prospects.


Senior ministers believe that it would be a mistake to move against the Prime Minister before Labour's annual conference next month, which they are warning would then descend into a "shambles". One senior Labour source said: "We can't go on as we are. We have either got to get behind him or get rid of him. We can't do both."

One minister said yesterday: "It's not the right time to take a leap into the unknown. He deserves one last chance to turn it round and we should support him in that. He might be able to do it. If he can't, then we will have to take some big decisions and think through the consequences."

Even some of his cabinet critics appear ready to accept that Mr Brown should be allowed a final opportunity to revive his fortunes by unveiling an economic plan next month to help people struggling to cope with rising fuel, food and housing costs in the downturn. But they intend to force him out if his fightback flops and he fails to rally Labour at its Manchester conference.

The plan to give Mr Brown a temporary reprieve will disappoint Labour backbenchers who hoped that he would be ousted before the conference. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary and frontrunner to succeed him, put down a marker about his leadership ambitions in a newspaper article last month.

Some backbench critics have not given up hope of persuading cabinet ministers to "ambush" Mr Brown next month by threatening to resign if he does not stand down. They say that such moves would not be advertised in advance as it might give him a chance to pre-empt them, possibly by reshuffling the Cabinet. But they concede that the prospects of an immediate move against him have receded during the holiday season.

Ministers will reassure the critics that they will seek to remove the Prime Minister "in October or November" if he fails to take his last chance. Some are prepared to resign if he refuses to stand down after being told he has lost their confidence.

Even some Brown allies admit he has only "one more shot" at convincing his own party he should lead it into the next general election.

Although some ministers have deliberately kept their heads down during the holiday period, the Cabinet is expected to close ranks behind Mr Brown when it holds its first meeting of the new political season on 8 September, in theWest Midlands.

They will discourage backbenchers from criticising Mr Brown, warning that it would play into the Tories' hands and overshadow the party conference in Manchester.

Tony Lloyd, the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, is said to be urging backbenchers not to organise a "round robin" letter saying that Mr Brown should quit – a device used two years ago during an attempted coup to force Tony Blair to name a date for his departure from No 10. Ministers believe the present circumstances are different and that the "least bloody option" is for senior cabinet figures to persuade him to "go quietly" for the sake of the party.

Allies of Mr Brown insist he has no intention of doing so. Although they recognise that he needs to mount a convincing fightback, they say his critics are in danger of undermining his attempt to close the Tories' 20-point lead in the opinion polls.

Another reason for delaying any strike against the Prime Minister is that Labour faces a difficultby-election in his political backyard in Fife following the death of Mr Brown's friend John MacDougall, the Labour MP for Glenrothes.

* The Business Secretary, John Hutton, appeared to rebuke calls from more than 70 MPs for a windfall tax on energy companies as he warned consumers that the era of cheap energy was over. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, he said there was "genuine concern" about the difficulties for families facing soaring heating costs this winter, adding that the Government was looking at what extra support it could provide.

Brown's recovery plan?

Downing Street and Whitehall are working frantically on an "economic plan" for the centrepiece of Gordon Brown's attempted fightback next month. This could cover:

Fuel

One idea is a £150 one-off fuel voucher to help seven million families struggling to pay soaring gas and electricity bills. Eighty Labour MPs have called for a windfall tax on the energy companies but ministers may opt for raising extra money from emissions permits under the EU carbon-trading scheme.

Housing

Options include trying to revive the market by reducing or delaying stamp duty paid by home buyers; a saving scheme aimed at helping first-time buyers raise a deposit; and turning empty properties into social housing.

Credit

The Bank of England could reform its special liquidity scheme to allow banks to swap unmarketable but relatively good-quality mortgage-backed securities for government securities. In effect, the state would lend the banking system money to grant mortgages.

[John]

The Indian Prime Minister has declared flooding in the Bihar state a "national calamity" as efforts focused on the evacuation of more than 120,000 people.

The flooding, which is said to be the worst in 50 years, was caused after torrential rain caused the Kosi river in neighbouring Nepal to break its banks.

A huge wave of water was unleashed, smashing mud embankments downstream in India's northern Bihar state.

Manmohan Singh announced a relief package of $228m and 125,000 tonnes of grain for those affected by the floods.

"If there is a need for more, we will give more," he said after a tour of the devastated region.

"We would like to assure the people of Bihar that all India will support them through this difficulty."

The government has also promised tents and helicopters to aid the military-backed evacuation.

But officials say more bad weather has prompted fears that rivers will to continue to overflow.

Sky News India correspondent Alex Crawford said there was so much water in the river, it had now entirely changed course.

"Authorities are making an urgent appeal for the people who are left to get out," she said. "It is one of the biggest evacuations of humans - certainly in India - but possibly the world."

Local TV pictures showed flood waters pouring into homes through windows, submerging villages, roads and railway tracks.

The Kosi, which flows into the Ganges, is known as the 'River of Sorrow' because of its record of disastrous floods during the monsoon season.

-source-Skynews

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the news.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Tropical Storm Gustav has made landfall over Jamaica, with meteorologists warning it could strengthen into a hurricane "at any time".

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44965000/jpg/_44965617_storm_ap226b.jpg

At 1400 EDT (1800 GMT) Gustav was just 65km (40 miles) east of Kingston and moving slowly towards the capital.

It is expected to head towards the US, prompting evacuation preparations in New Orleans, three years after the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Haitian officials say 51 people have died since the storm struck on Tuesday.

At least eight more deaths were reported after Gustav tore through the Dominican Republic.

Heavy rain and winds began lashing eastern parts of Jamaica as the storm struck, tearing roofs off buildings and uprooting trees.

Workers were being evacuated from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, as oil prices on trading markets rose amid forecasts Gustav could threaten oil installations in the region.

'Possible hurricane'

The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasts Gustav will strengthen in the coming hours as it creeps westwards at around 7km/h.

The Jamaican government issued a hurricane warning before Gustav came ashore, packing maximum sustained winds of 110km/h (70mph), with some higher gusts.

A hurricane is defined by winds of 119km/h (74mph), according to the NHC.

Emergency officials there have set up shelters and dispatched relief supplies to flood-prone areas.

On Friday, the storm is expected to move towards the Cayman Islands, where a hurricane watch is also in effect.

Across the islands, non-essential government employees were sent home on Thursday afternoon ahead of the storm's expected arrival on Friday afternoon.

Cayman Airways added 25 extra flights to their schedules in an effort to evacuate tourists and residents wanting to get off the islands.

But officials said they were not expecting a significant storm surge for Grand Cayman - which came as a welcome relief to islanders as much of the island sits just metres above sea-level.

New Orleans prepares

Cuba has replaced a hurricane warning for its eastern Granma province with a tropical storm warning.

The NHC warns that Gustav is also expected to produce heavy rainfall - up to 25 inches (64cm) in some places - over Jamaica and the Caymans.

"These rains will likely produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides," it said.

Meanwhile, the US state of Louisiana and New Orleans are making their own preparations ahead of Gustav's arrival.

Meteorologists say the storm could make landfall in the US anywhere from south Texas to Florida by Tuesday.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.

New Orleans has also begun planning a possible mandatory evacuation, hoping to prevent the chaos it saw after Katrina, which struck the city three years ago on Friday.

Gustav is the seventh tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Two of the worst oppressors during Argentina's military rule - known as the Dirty War - have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44968000/jpg/_44968392_1menenbussiafp.jpg

Antonio Bussi, 82, and Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 81, were sent to prison for the kidnapping and disappearance of a former senator in April 1976.

The two generals were senior members of the military government that ruled the country during the 1970s and 1980s.

During that time tens of thousands of people were tortured and killed.

A court in the northern Argentine province of Tucuman sentenced the two men on Thursday.

The former provincial governor, Antonio Bussi, and military chief, Luciano Benjamin Menendez, looked on passively as the sentences were read out.

Menendez was sentenced to prison earlier this month on another human rights case and there are more charges outstanding against the two men - both now in their eighties.

They were found guilty of responsibility for the disappearance in April 1976 of the former senator, Guillermo Vargas Aignasse.

Long wait

Family and friends of other victims were inside and outside the court, holding photographs of their loved ones. Some cheered, while others cried.

A short distance away, separated by lines of riot police, were supporters of the two men who earlier had told the court they knew nothing about the disappeared man and defended the military government which they said was fighting to protect Argentina against communism.

It took 32 years to bring Bussi and Menendez to trial - the cases against the perpetrators of the darkest period in Argentine history only resumed a couple of years ago.

Tens of thousands of people were kidnapped by the authorities and disappeared. It has taken a long time but justice in Argentina is now being seen to be done.


BBC News

[John]

Thanks for the read!

[John]

Thanks for the news!

[John]

Officers investigating a fire at the home of a millionaire and his family - who are all missing - are searching through the wrecked building.

Osbaston House, an isolated property near Maesbrook, Shropshire, was set alight in the early hours of Tuesday.

Christopher Foster, 50, his wife Jillian, 49, and daughter Kirstie, 15, have not been seen since. It is not known if they were in the house.

Police in overalls entered through an annexe to the gutted home.

'Cursory search'

Supt Gary Higgins said: "Officers have completed a search of the outbuildings and are now in the process of removing vehicles from the site.

"We have completed a cursory search of the annexe part of the main building which is relatively intact following the fire.

"Forensic specialists will begin the lengthy, painstaking process of sifting and examining all the contents. There is extensive debris at the site and it will take some days, possibly several weeks, to complete this part of the investigation.

"We will be seeking to build up a picture of the circumstances leading up to the fire."

Police said "every possible scenario for what happened" was being considered and officers were following up all possible lines of inquiry.

West Mercia Police have said they think the fire was started deliberately.

Supt Higgins said: "This is being treated as arson and, until we can determine whether the family was inside, it will remain arson."

Dogs' bodies

Three horses were found dead in a stable block, which was also gutted in the fire.

Supt Higgins said police were waiting for the results of post-mortem examinations carried out on the horses. He said the bodies of three dogs were found close to the horses.

A large horse box, parked close to the gates of the property, has been removed from the site for forensic examination, he added.

CCTV cameras from the property have been taken away and officers have warned that forensic searches will be painstaking and likely to take some time.

The fire in the house, thought to be valued at £1.2m, broke out at about 0500 BST on Tuesday
The day before the family had attended a barbecue at a friend's house.

Mr Foster is listed as the director of Ulva Limited - a thermal insulation manufacturing company in Telford - with Mrs Foster named as company secretary.

The firm went into administration in August last year and a court order was issued in November for the company to be wound up.

A judge later found Mr Foster had spent the previous months stripping Ulva of its assets and transferring them to a new firm he had set up called Ulva International.

Mr Foster was also the alleged victim of a blackmail - but two men were cleared of attempting to blackmail him into giving them £100,000 at Shrewsbury Crown Court in November 2006.

Kirstie Foster is a year 10 pupil at Ellesmere College, an independent school in Ellesmere, Shropshire.

Headteacher Brendan Wignall said: "Kirstie is a charming, popular and hard-working girl with many friends, all of whom are hoping she will be found safe and well."

-BBC News

[John]

Have you ever longed to indulge in a Yorkshire Pudding on a hot summer's day?

Then a new range of 20 ice creams created with Britain's best-known delicacies may be the ones for you.

Ranging from Yorkshire pudding flavour to Arbroath smokies the ice creams are designed to get British taste buds working.

Morelli's ice cream parlour at London store Harrods made the ice creams after Laterooms.com polled 500 people to pick flavours that best represented the UK.

Other flavours include traditional clotted cream, sausage and mash, pork pie, haggis and Cornish pasty.

There's even a Cheddar cheese flavour and Lancashire hot pot to satisfy those northern cravings.

Less palate-testing varieties are Eccles cake and Kendal mint cake.

Kathy Gwinnett, of Laterooms.com, said: "It is interesting that the humble Yorkshire pudding tops the list of favourite British delicacies.

"We're lucky to be spoilt for choice and the massive array of regional flavours that make up the taste of Britain shows just how much the UK has to offer."
-Source-Yahoo.com

[John]

Declaring "we are a better country than this," Barack Obama launched a sharp assault on Republican presidential rival John McCain on Thursday, promising to reverse the economic failures of the past eight years and restore America's reputation in the world.

Obama, the first black White House nominee of a major U.S. party, linked McCain directly to President George W. Bush and said their failed Republican policies were responsible for a faltering U.S. economy and a decline in U.S. global standing.

"We are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look just like the last eight," Obama told a flag-waving crowd of about 75,000 supporters in Denver's open-air football stadium as he accepted the nomination on the last night of the Democratic convention.

"On November 4th, we must stand up and say: 'Eight is enough,'" Obama said.

Obama delivered the biggest speech in a career filled with big speeches on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech -- a landmark in the U.S. civil rights movement.

The speech kicked off a two-month sprint to the November 4 general election against McCain, who tried to steal the limelight with word that he had chosen his running mate and will appear with the choice on Friday in Ohio.

Obama said McCain, an Arizona senator, was out of touch with the day-to-day concerns of Americans and had been "anything but independent" on key issues like the economy, health care and education.

"Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know," said Obama, who had been urged by some Democrats to take a tougher line against McCain.

"Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than 90 percent of the time?" Obama asked, citing McCain's voting record in the Senate.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change," he said.

The televised acceptance speech by Obama, who was formally nominated on Wednesday, gave the first-term Illinois senator his biggest national audience until he meets McCain in late September in the first of three face-to-face debates.

The speech included some of the most direct attacks on McCain by Obama since the general election started. Obama, whose patriotism has been the subject of Internet attacks, said the candidates should be able to disagree without attacking each other's character.

'COUNTRY FIRST'

"I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first," Obama said.

Obama, an early opponent of the Iraq war, promised to "end this war in Iraq responsibly" but said he would finish the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and would be willing to use U.S. military power when necessary.

"As commander-in-chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home," Obama said.

He chided McCain, a staunch advocate of the Iraq war, for saying he would pursue Osama bin Laden to "the Gates of Hell." Obama said McCain's focus on Iraq had let al Qaeda and bin Laden escape.

"John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell -- but he won't even go to the cave where he lives," he said.

"If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice -- but it is not the change American needs."

The speech capped a sunny day of celebration and musical performances by singers like Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow under clear skies in the stadium. By the time Obama's speech started, nearly every seat, and the entire football field, was full.

Former Vice President Al Gore, the Nobel Prize and Academy Award winner who lost a disputed election to Bush in 2000, told the crowd things would have been very different if he had won.

"I doubt anyone would argue now that election didn't matter," Gore said, describing Obama as "a clean break from the politics of partisanship and bitter division."

Obama is running even with McCain in most opinion polls, although a Gallup daily tracking poll on Thursday showed him beginning to get an edge from the convention and moving out to a 6-point advantage, up five points.

Obama addressed criticism he has not offered enough specifics along with his sometimes soaring rhetoric, restating an ambitious domestic agenda that includes a tax cut for 95 percent of Americans and an end to dependence on Middle East oil in 10 years.

He said McCain's emphasis on new offshore oil drilling was a stop-gap measure and not a long-term energy solution. He promised to invest $150 billion over the next decade to develop affordable, renewable energy sources.

While Obama's policy proposals were not new, national conventions are often the first time voters pay attention to a presidential race. Opinion polls show many still unfamiliar with Obama and concerned about his readiness for the job.

McCain launched an advertisement on cable television in which he spoke directly to Obama through the camera.

"Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, congratulations," said McCain, who has been scathing in his criticism of Obama.

"How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow, we'll be back at it. But tonight, senator, job well done."

The last presidential candidate to accept the nomination in an open-air football stadium was John Kennedy, who spoke to the Democratic convention at the Los Angeles Coliseum before 80,000 supporters in 1960.
-Yahoo.com

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has signed an agreement to pay Libya $5bn as part of a deal to resolve colonial-era disputes.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44973000/jpg/_44973078_shake_afp_226body.jpg

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi said the settlement signed in the city of Benghazi opened the door to partnership between the two states.

Mr Berlusconi said the deal, which sees the money being released over 25 years, ended "40 years of misunderstanding".

Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s.

The former Ottoman territory became an independent country in 1951.

This is the first African country to be compensated by a former colonial master, the BBC's Rana Jawad reports from Benghazi.

The question is, she adds: will this latest move set precedents for other former African countries to follow suit?

Coastal motorway

Mr Berlusconi explained that $200m would be paid annually over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects, the main one being a coastal motorway between the Egyptian and Tunisian borders.

There will also be a colonial-era mine clearing project.

As a goodwill gesture, Italy also returned an ancient statue of Venus, the headless "Venus of Cyrene", which had been taken to Rome in colonial times.

The settlement was a "complete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era", the Italian prime minister said.

"In this historic document, Italy apologises for its killing, destruction and repression against Libyans during the colonial rule," Col Gaddafi said for his part.

The agreement was signed in the Benghazi palace which once housed the Italian colonial administration, Reuters news agency reports.

Rome and Tripoli have spent years arguing over compensation for the colonial period.

Mr Berlusconi's one-day trip was his second since June when illegal immigration from Africa to Europe was the key issue of talks.

Italy has been swamped by thousands of African migrants trying to reach its shores by boat.

Libya has come in from the diplomatic cold since 2003 when it abandoned efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Next week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to make the first high-ranking American visit to Libya since 1953.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

An analysis of new census figures has shown that Australia is suffering from an unprecedented "man drought".

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44971000/jpg/_44971999_18ebfa6a-d7f4-4953-bf85-1e084f6f266c.jpg

The statistics have revealed that there are almost 100,000 more females than males in Australia.

The problem is worse in the coastal cities, where women have moved seeking better jobs and lifestyles, while many men have gone overseas.

Thirty years ago Australia was with flush with men thanks to immigration policies that favoured males.

That position has been reversed because thousands of Australian men in their 20s and early 30s have gone overseas either to travel or to work.

It has caused a gender imbalance that is having far-reaching implications.

Town and country

Major cities in Australia now have concentrated groups of unattached women, along with dwindling numbers of the opposite sex.

Demographer Bernard Salt says the exodus of young men to foreign countries is leaving its mark.

"If you go into the United Arab Emirates census you'll find there is around 12,000 Australians living in Dubai, mostly male, mostly in the 25 to 34-year age group.

"Here is an example of one country that has drawn out a specific age demographic out of Australia which has contributed to the 'man drought'."

But the situation outside of the larger towns and cities is very different.

Vast numbers of women have abandoned the countryside seeking better jobs or education in metropolitan areas. They have left behind communities overloaded with younger males.

In the town of Glenden in the northern state of Queensland there is one single female for every 23 men.

Demographers have compiled a so-called "Love Map" that shows how the various clusters of unattached men and women are distributed across the Australian continent.


BBC News

-I blame Kellie:shifty:

[JohnCenaFan28]

A leading suspect wanted over the Philippines' worst militant attack has been arrested in Bahrain and returned to Manila, officials have said.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44972000/jpg/_44972130_ferryafp.jpg

Ruben Pestano Lavilla Jr, 35, is wanted for alleged involvement in the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that led to 116 deaths in a subsequent fire.

He was the "brains" behind an Islamic group allied to two al-Qaeda affiliated organisations, Manila officials say.

They say he was detected after document checks by Manila's embassy in Bahrain.

The arrest had not been made public while Philippine officials prepared deportation papers.

'Fled' country

Marcelino Libanan, head of the immigration commission, told Reuters news agency that Mr Lavilla was checked after trying to get a bank loan and had been working as an interpreter at the Philippine embassy.

However, Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor told the AP agency that the arrest came after Mr Lavilla submitted documents for a job at the embassy.

Mr Lavilla is alleged to have fled the Philippines a month after the ferry attack.

He is accused of being the mastermind behind the Rajah Solaiman Movement, blamed for several bomb attacks in Manila in 2004 and 2005.

The movement is said to be linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Muslim militant groups, based in the southern Philippines.

Mr Blancaflor said: "If you are a terrorist, wherever you are, wherever you hide, the law will catch up with you - that's the most important thing here."

The ferry blaze was South East Asia's second-worst militant attack after the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people.

The 10,000-tonne Superferry 14 was heading for Bacolod in the central Philippines when it caught fire on 27 February 2004.


BBC News

[flamesoffury]

*moves to australia* Maybe i'll be lucky enough to find someone now..

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thousands of opposition supporters in Taiwan have taken part in a protest in Taipei as President Ma Ying-jeou marked his first 100 days in office.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/asia_pac_enl_1220104568/img/laun.jpg

It was the first mass rally against Mr Ma since his inauguration, and also comes amid increased worries over his pro-China policies and the economy.

The protesters said he was moving too quickly to improve ties with Beijing.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, although they have been governed separately since 1949.

Resignation call

This was the first large-scale protest against President Ma since he took office in May.

Opposition supporters protest on the streets in Taiwan.

His critics - mainly pro-independence groups and members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party - took to the streets in the capital, chanting slogans, and rallied outside the presidential office, calling for him to step down.

They argue that Mr Ma has been too conciliatory towards China and that his policies have damaged the island's sovereignty.

The president was elected by a landslide in March, promising to work for friendlier ties with China and boost the island's economy.

Last month, the two sides launched regular direct flights for the first time in nearly six decades.

President Ma's administration has also relaxed many restrictions on doing business in China, and allowed more Chinese tourists to visit.

The president's office did not comment on the rally, but officials from the governing Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) said the public should not blame the current administration for the island's economic woes but the previous one, which held office for eight years.

They said the public should be protesting against Taiwan's former President, Chen Shui-bian, and his family, who are being investigated over fresh allegations of money laundering involving millions of dollars.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Egypt has opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip at Rafah for two days, allowing hundreds of Palestinians to cross into and out of the territory.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44972000/jpg/_44972379_rafahcrossingap226b.jpg

Palestinian officials said the move was a goodwill gesture before the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Only those requiring medical treatment, along with holders of foreign residency permits, will be permitted to leave.

The Rafah crossing has been closed for most of the period since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Israel has also sealed its border crossings with the coastal territory, allowing in only humanitarian aid and basic supplies.

In June, Hamas and Israel agreed a truce aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli territory in return for Israel's lifting of its blockade.

However, Israel insists "normal business" cannot resume at Rafah until Hamas releases an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants two years ago, Cpl Gilad Shalit.

Under a November 2005 deal, Israel can control access to the European officials who monitor Rafah. In this way Israel has kept the crossing mainly closed since 2007.

Hamas blew up large sections of the Egypt-Gaza border fence in January, enabling thousands of Gazans to temporarily stock up on goods they had been deprived of by the restrictions.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Russia has taken a series of diplomatic steps in an apparent effort to ease tensions with the West over this month's conflict in Georgia.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44971000/jpg/_44971234_44969076.jpg

President Dmitry Medvedev told UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown Moscow wanted more monitors from Europe's security body in Georgia, the Kremlin said.

Separately, Russian and German foreign ministers agreed to seek to calm tensions over the crisis, Moscow said.

The issue is set to dominate the agenda of an EU meeting on Monday.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said earlier this week that the bloc was considering sanctions "and many other means" against Russia over the crisis.

But he said he hoped the matter would "be solved by negotiation".

Moscow's military action in Georgia and its subsequent recognition of independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia - Georgia's two rebel regions - have angered the West.

Moscow has defended its actions, saying they prevented a "genocide" in South Ossetia.

However, after the inflammatory rhetoric Russia now appears to have decided it is time for a bit of diplomacy, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says.

'Non-existent threats'

During Saturday's telephone conversation with Mr Brown, President Medvedev said Russia was "in favour of the deployment of additional OSCE [Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe] monitors in the security zone" in Georgia, the Kremlin statement said.

It said observers in the security zone would provide "impartial monitoring" of Tbilisi's actions.

Earlier this month, the OSCE decided to increase the number of its military observers by up 100 in Georgia.

Mr Medvedev also said that Russia recognised Georgia's regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia because of Tbilisi's aggression.

He said that the Georgian move "fundamentally altered the conditions in which, during 17 years, attempts were made to settle the relations between South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia," the statement said.

In a separate development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

They both "agreed on the need to put an end to attempts to use the situation surrounding Georgia... to raise tensions in Europe by speculating on non-existent threats concerning other post-Soviet countries," a Russian foreign ministry statement said.

Ties cut

The conflict in the region began on 7 August when Georgia tried to retake South Ossetia by force after a series of lower-level clashes.

Russia launched a counter-attack and the Georgian troops were ejected from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russian troops continued their operation, advancing deep inside Georgia's territory.

An EU-brokered ceasefire brought a formal end to the conflict five days later, although each side has accused the other of breaking the agreement.

Russia has since withdrawn the bulk of its force and says the troops left behind are serving as peacekeepers.

Georgia has described them as an occupation force, announcing that it is cutting diplomatic relations with Moscow.


BBC News

[John]

Thanks for the news!

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Hundreds of thousands of people have marched throughout Mexico to protest against a continuing wave of killings and kidnappings in the country.

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The rallies were held in all of Mexico's 32 states, with more than 150,000 people gathering at Zocalo square in the capital, Mexico City.

They were mainly dressed in white, and marched in silence, holding candles.

At least 2,700 people have been killed and 300 kidnapped so far this year, mostly in drugs-related violence.

Earlier this week, a dozen headless bodies were found in the Yucatan Peninsula.

The marches also come a week after President Felipe Calderon announced new measures to deal with the violence.

'No more impunity'

Dressed in white, tens of thousands of Mexicans walked in silence along the capital's main boulevard, holding candles and lanterns, to show that they had had enough of the murders and kidnappings plaguing their country.

Many carried national flags - a sign that they want a unified country in the fight against crime.

Others carried banners bearing slogans such as "No more impunity" and "No more revoking sentences". Others carried pictures of their children who had been kidnapped.

"The most frustrating thing has been the indolence of many of the authorities, their insensitivity," said the father of Monica Alejandrina Ramirez, who was kidnapped in 2004 and has not been heard of since.

"I have often asked myself, why? Why me? Why my daughter?"

Once everyone had arrived at Zocalo square and the sun had set, they sang the national anthem, and put out their candles together.

There were similar co-ordinated scenes in dozens of towns and cities across Mexico as thousands of others staged "Iluminemos Mexico", or "Let's Illuminate Mexico", silent marches.

The organisers hoped to emulate a similar march in 2004, when almost half a million people protested against violence, forcing the government to target police corruption and introduce reforms.

Emergency programme

The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Mexico City says the marches are a visible sign of how anxious people continue to be about the violence, and their frustration at the government's inability to reduce it.

"The message is: Get to work or we'll hold you accountable," said Eduardo Gallo, whose 25-year-old daughter was kidnapped and murdered in 2000. "We are angry."

Last week the country's political and security leaders drew up an emergency, 74-point plan to try to combat the wave of violence.

Measures include sacking corrupt police officers, equipping security forces with more powerful weapons, new prisons for kidnappers and strategies to combat money-laundering and drug-trafficking.

President Calderon has already deployed more than 25,000 troops across the country to combat the powerful drug cartels.

Washington is also pumping in hundreds of millions of dollars to help.

But the cartels and kidnappers are well organised and often have the acquiescence of corrupt police officers, our correspondent says.

The organisers of this march know restoring a sense of calm and order will need wholesale changes in Mexican society, something one march on one day cannot achieve, he adds.


BBC News

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Relief efforts are increasing in the Indian state of Bihar, hit by some of the worst flooding in years.

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Authorities say they have so far rescued more than 300,000 people left stranded after heavy monsoon rains caused the Kosi river to flood.

However, more than twice that number are still homeless and in urgent need of aid, and relief is being hampered by extensive damage to roads.

The waters have affected vast numbers of people in India and Nepal.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder, in Bihar, says extra boats have been pressed into service and additional troops deployed.

Rescue teams are still to reach some remote villages and have been dropping aid to from the air to those affected.

In some areas the water level has begun receding but the floods have also spread to other districts, affecting yet more people.

The forecast is for more rain in the coming days and the continuing bad weather is hampering efforts to get aid to about 2.5 million people who have been displaced.

More than one million people are now being housed in relief camps, where they are being given cooked food, water and medicines.

But many of the camps are already overflowing and there are more people streaming in by the hour, our correspondent says.

Aid workers estimate that many will have to live in temporary shelters for months until their homes and villages are rebuilt.

Burst dam

Amid relief efforts, the suffering of many of those affected continues. On Saturday at least 20 people were killed when a boat capsized while carrying dozens of police.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh, who visited the affected areas in Bihar on Thursday, said the flooding was a "national calamity".

He has announced an aid package worth $230m (£115m).

But aid agencies say many of the victims are being moved to temporary shelters which lack basic amenities.

A report released by Unicef says there are fears of infectious diseases at the camps.

Army and air force helicopters are continuing to provide aid to the flood-ravaged parts and 600 boats are helping with the relief and rescue work.

But the floods have washed away roads and railway tracks, and water and electricity supplies have been affected in many areas.

"This situation is beyond comprehension," Bihar resident, Arshad Khaqani, told the BBC News website.

The Kosi river flows from Nepal where it is called the Saptakoshi river.

On 18 August a dam on the Saptakoshi burst, triggering the subsequent flooding in Bihar.

Officials in Nepal say hundreds of people there have been hit by illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia and an estimated 50,000 are homeless.

They say nearly 1,000 houses have been completely destroyed. Power supplies and transport have been severely affected.

The costs to the economy are now estimated at one billion Nepalese rupees ($14.25m).


BBC News

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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have met in Jerusalem for a further round of US-backed peace talks.

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Mr Olmert wants to draw up a document of understanding that will serve as a framework agreement they can take to Washington next month, officials say.

However, the Palestinians have said they will not sign a partial deal.

Mr Olmert has promised to resign after his Kadima party chooses a new leader in a primary election on 17 September.

The prime minister announced his intention in July following months of pressure resulting from the opening of a police inquiry into money he received from a US-Israeli businessman. He denies any wrongdoing.

'Considerable gaps'

Mr Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said his premature departure from office "would not interfere with the discussions" as the two leaders sat down for the latest of the meetings they have held every few weeks since the Annapolis peace conference last November.

Afterwards, Mr Regev told the Associated Press that "significant progress had been made", but admitted there remained "considerable gaps between the two sides".

He would not elaborate on the specific disagreements, but correspondents say they are likely to include the borders of a future Palestinian state, settlement construction in the West Bank, and the status of Jerusalem.

Before the meeting, Israeli officials said Mr Olmert wanted to discuss drawing up a "framework agreement" that could be presented to US President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice next month, before he left office.

They hoped such an agreement would show that progress had been made and indicate where the negotiations could be picked up by Mr Olmert's successor.

However, an aide to Mr Abbas, Yasser Abed Rabbo, insisted the Palestinian negotiating team would reject "any partial deal".

After the talks, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah: "The time factor is important but we either have an agreement on all issues or no agreement."

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a favourite to succeed Mr Olmert, has cautioned against rushing the process, saying attempts to "bridge gaps prematurely" can lead to misunderstandings and clashes.

Ms Livni's comments were echoed by her US counterpart during a visit to the Middle East last week.

Nevertheless, Ms Rice said she was "very heartened" by the fact that the negotiations continued to be "serious" and "intensive".


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The Ministry of Defence is to meet an animal rights group to discuss alternatives to the bearskin hats worn by guards at Buckingham Palace.

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has approached Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney to design a new shape for the 18in hat.

The charity has previously called for fake fur to be used, but said the MoD was not happy with prototype designs.

Baroness Taylor, minister for defence procurement, will meet Peta on Tuesday.

Tourist sight

The MoD says it is open to alternatives to real bearskin, but that previous attempts to replace it with synthetic fur have failed because the material has not been durable or weatherproof enough.

The ministry also wants to avoid if possible any change in the look of the red-coated sentries guarding Buckingham Palace, whose uniforms have long been one of the top tourist sights in London.

However, Peta is proposing a new hat shape and has also approached designer Marc Bouwer as well as McCartney and Westwood.

Robbie LeBlanc, Peta's director for Europe, said that although the group was proposing a different shape for the hats it did not mean the new design could not become "iconic".

"Most people think it's fake fur and when they find out it's real and it takes one bear to make a hat, they are appalled," he said.

'Inexcusable'

The meeting is the culmination of a media campaign by Peta that has included a naked protest outside Buckingham Palace.

More recently, comedian Ricky Gervais sent an open letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, calling the continued use of real fur inexcusable.

"I understand and appreciate the importance of uniforms, but continuing to use real fur in the 21st century is inexcusable, regardless of 'tradition'," the letter said.

"The public are relying on you to bring about a humane changing of the guards."


BBC News

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[JohnCenaFan28]

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has threatened to dissolve parliament and call elections after the collapse of the country's ruling coalition.

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Mr Yushchenko's supporters walked out in protest following new laws trimming the president's powers.

The laws were introduced by the pro-Russian opposition and backed by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's party.

Former allies, the prime minister and president are now at odds despite sharing pro-Western political goals.

All but one of 12 ministers from Mr Yushchenko's party boycotted Wednesday's cabinet meeting.

"A political and constitutional coup d'etat has started in the parliament," Mr Yushchenko said in a televised speech.

"I will use my right to dissolve parliament and decree early elections if a new coalition is not formed within 30 days," he said.

'Irresponsible behaviour'

But Ms Tymoshenko blamed her rival for the chaos, vowing that the Ukrainian cabinet would continue its work despite the break-up of the coalition.

"I am sorry that the president behaves irresponsibly," she said at a cabinet meeting. "The coalition was destroyed under his instruction."

The BBC's Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke says Mr Yushchenko's popularity is at rock bottom at the moment with opinion polls giving him single-digit levels of support.

The prime minister and president are believed to be jockeying for position before next year's presidential election, though our correspondent says Mr Yushchenko's chances of winning with current popularity levels would be slim.

The crisis follows mounting tension between the president and prime minister with Mr Yushchenko accusing Ms Tymoshenko of treason for allegedly siding with Moscow over the conflict in Georgia.

Mr Yushchenko has been a vociferous supporter of Georgia during the conflict but the prime minister's party on Tuesday blocked a parliamentary resolution condemning Moscow.

The flare-up comes a day before a planned visit to the country by US Vice-President Dick Cheney.

The trip is part of a tour of former Soviet states which the US sees as key allies.


BBC News

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North Korea has begun reassembling a nuclear plant, reversing steps taken under an international deal to end its nuclear programme, South Korea says.

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South Korea's foreign ministry said the countries involved in the six-party nuclear negotiations were working closely to determine their response.

Pyongyang warned last month that it had stopped disabling the Yongbyon plant.

It accused the US of breaking an agreement to remove it from a list of states that sponsor terrorism.

The removal from the list was part of the package promised to North Korea but it has not yet been carried out.

US scepticism

Although the disabling process is well advanced, it is reversible. Experts believe the North's facilities could be back up and running within a year.

Former UN weapons inspector David Albright says the reactor at Yongbyon is mostly intact.

But he said the regime would need to manufacture hundreds - possibly thousands - of fuel rods and rebuild a cooling tower that was blown up in June to get it fully operational.

He believes the North is unlikely to rebuild the plant, but is instead using the threat as a bargaining chip to gain more concessions from the six-party talks, which involve North and South Korea, the US, China, Russia and Japan.

The US state department also expressed scepticism over the latest claims from Pyongyang.

Department official Paula DeSutter told reporters that the North Koreans "like to posture".

In June, North Korea finally submitted a long-delayed account of its nuclear facilities - and was expecting to be removed from the US list almost immediately in return.

But the US said that would not be possible until North Korea agreed to inspections aimed at verifying the details that it had disclosed.

That move has been delayed amid wrangling among the six parties over exactly how these details can be verified.

The North began disabling the Yongbyon plant in November but stopped in late August in protest at the delay.

Seoul confirmed reports earlier on Wednesday from Japan's public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo news agency that the North had started reassembling the facilities.


BBC News

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Rival leaders of the divided island of Cyprus are meeting to launch negotiations aimed at reunifying the island after 34 years of division.

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Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and rival Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met at a compound in Nicosia.

Analysts say the talks have a real chance of resolving the dispute, which threatens Turkey's EU membership hopes.

The island has been divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974, triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup in Nicosia.

Turkey has 35,000 troops in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.

'Historic day'

"We must, at long last, put an end to the suffering of our people and reunite our country," Mr Christofias told reporters as he headed for the meeting, held in an abandoned airport compound on the outskirts of the divided capital.

Mr Talat said their aim was to make "a divided island a common place where two nations are living".

"Ankara is, you know, supporting a solution. That is why after four years of stalemate we are here - we are in favour of a solution. We are confident that we will succeed in concluding [a] comprehensive agreement," he said.

Mr Christofias added: "There is a common will and a common desire and a common effort to achieve this target".

The last attempt at a negotiated solution - in 2004 - collapsed when Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of a UN settlement plan which was rejected by Greek Cypriot voters.

As a result, Cyprus joined the European Union that year as a divided island with Turkish Cypriots denied the bloc's membership benefits.

Challenges ahead

The UN secretary general's special envoy to the talks, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, said "significant progress" had been made to create a solid foundation for negotiations.

Mr Christofias and Mr Talat - both seen as moderates - have met five times so far this year.

They will continue to meet at least once a week, though the UN has warned that talks should not continue indefinitely without concrete progress being made.

Mr Downer said of the process: "There have been difficult moments over the past months and there will likely be further difficulties and challenges ahead.

"At the same time, the Cyprus problem is not insurmountable and the negotiations which begin today can and must have a successful outcome."

The meeting is scheduled to address matters of procedure, with negotiations on more substantive - and difficult - issues due to begin on 11 September.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has said the US wants to work with Azerbaijan on additional routes for exporting the region's oil reserves to the West.

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He also pledged support for US allies in the former Soviet Union.

A BBC correspondent says the US sees the states as key allies in protecting access to the region's energy supplies.

Mr Cheney - who will also visit Georgia and Ukraine - spoke as US officials revealed President Bush was to announce a $1bn (£0.5bn) aid package to Georgia.

Flanked by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Mr Cheney said: "We've met this evening in the shadow of the recent Russian invasion of Georgia."

He said he was bringing "a clear and simple message for the people of Azerbaijan and the entire region: the United States has a deep and abiding interest in your well-being and security".

But the BBC's Steve Rosenberg, in Moscow, says America's primary concern is not nurturing democracy in the region but rather oil and gas.

Washington wants to benefit from huge energy deposits in the Caspian Sea, but it does not want all the pipelines heading west through Russia.

One Western-sponsored pipeline is already pumping Caspian oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

There are plans for another pipeline to take natural gas from Azerbaijan and Central Asia and transporting it from Turkey to Austria.

Our correspondent says that, as far as the US and the EU are concerned, the new pipeline is vital if the West is to avoid becoming too energy dependent on Moscow.

Pledge of support

Mr Cheney's trip is likely to infuriate Moscow, which sees Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Georgia as part of its sphere of influence.

In Georgia, Mr Cheney is expected to stress US support for President Mikhail Saakashvili - the man the Kremlin dismissed on Tuesday as a "political corpse" whose leadership it did not recognise.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has also accused the US of helping Tbilisi build its war machine and called on America to review its relations with the Georgian authorities.

"Unfortunately, at a certain point [the US] gave Saakashvili carte blanche for any actions, including military. All that was translated into aggression," Mr Medvedev told Italian television.

Fighting between Russia and Georgia began on 7 August after the Georgian military tried to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia by force.

Russian forces launched a counter-attack and the conflict ended with the ejection of Georgian troops from South Ossetia and Georgia's other separatist region of Abkhazia.

Russia has since recognised the independence of both regions, though no other country has.


BBC News

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived in Syria's capital Damascus on a visit that is part of efforts to improve ties between the two countries.

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He described his trip as a "message of friendship" to the Syrians, according to Syria's al-Watan newspaper.

Relations between Paris and Damascus plummeted after the murder of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005.

Syria's critics accuse Damascus of being behind the assassination, a charge Syria has firmly denied.

Mr Sarkozy's two-day visit to Syria - a former French colony - is the first by a Western head of state in five years.

He hosted Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in July and he appears determined to bring Syria, a long-time foe of the US and Israel, back into the international fold, correspondents say.

During the Paris summit, Syria and Lebanon, an important ally of France, agreed to open embassies in each other's capitals for the first since the 1940s.

Mideast summit

"Syria can provide an irreplaceable contribution to solving Middle East issues," Mr Sarkozy told al-Watan in an interview, the AFP news agency reports.

"It is important that Syria plays a positive role in the region," the French president said, adding that peace in the Middle East "passes through" Syria and France.

Mr Sarkozy is due to meet President Assad at a dinner on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday, the two presidents will be joined by top officials from Turkey and Qatar for talks on Lebanon and Syria's indirect peace talks with Israel. Ankara has been mediating for several months in the Israeli-Syrian talks, while Qatar brokered a deal in May to resolve Lebanon's prolonged political crisis.


BBC News

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China has admitted that there could have been construction problems with some of the schools that collapsed during the Sichuan earthquake.

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The admission follows an investigation into the building standards of schools and other structures that fell down.

Thousands of pupils were among nearly 90,000 people who died or are still missing following the quake in May.

Parents have demanded to know why so many schools collapsed, and want those responsible to be punished.

'Not necessarily reasonable'

Independent engineers and some local officials have previously said that they believe many of the schools that collapsed did so because they were badly built.

But Ma Zongjin's comments, made at a press conference on Thursday, are important because he is the chairman of the national committee set up by the government to investigate the earthquake.

In response to a question about the schools, he said: "The structures were not necessarily reasonable and the materials were not necessarily strong enough. Both are possibilities."

But he said some schools would have collapsed anyway because of the strength of the magnitude 8 earthquake that hit northern Sichuan Province.

"There were some buildings in the earthquake fault zone that were not able to resist the earthquake," he said.

"So it didn't matter whether it was a building for children, a school, a government building or a residential block. They were all destroyed."

Parents' anger

But schools did seem to collapse more easily than other buildings during the earthquake, which also left 5 million people homeless.

Some schools, such as Dujiangyan's Xinjian Primary School, were the only buildings to fall down in some areas.

From the very beginning, the parents of those children who died have wanted to know why schools appeared to collapse to such an extent.

Government officials promised an investigation while, at the same time, pressurising parents to keep their grief - and their anger - to themselves.

Mr Ma seemed to confirm parents' worst fears when he said that bad design and poor quality materials might have played a role in the schools' collapse.

"There were possibly some construction problems because we have built schools relatively quickly in recent times," he said.

The investigation is continuing, but Mr Ma seemed to downplay expectations that the probe would lead to those responsible being punished.

He said the aim of the investigation was to make sure new schools were built properly.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

BP has signed an agreement aimed at solving a festering dispute over control of its Russian venture TNK-BP.

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The boss of TNK-BP, Robert Dudley, will step down as part of the deal with the Russian billionaires that control half of the business.

Three independent directors will also be appointed to TNK-BP's board.

Mr Dudley's departure had been central to the power struggle between BP and the Russian investors in the venture, which accounts for 25% of BP's profits.

The memorandum of understanding, signed on Thursday, also includes the option to list up to 20% of the venture on international markets.

TNK-BP's Russian partners had long called for Mr Dudley's departure and Mr Dudley left Russia in July in the face of what he said was "sustained harassment".

BP said it had agreed to offer a Russian-speaking candidate for the post, with extensive Russian business experience.

The Russian shareholders had accused BP of running TNK-BP like a subsidiary and Mr Dudley of favouring the British shareholder.

BP chairman Peter Sutherland said that the agreement, to be finalised over coming months, would relieve recent tensions between the two sides.

"It will create a stable base from which to grow the joint venture to the benefit of everyone involved, including the Russian state," Mr Sutherland said

He said that Mr Dudley had been an outstanding chief executive and would be hard to replace.

'Positive signal'

BP owns 50% of the venture while the Russian shareholding is made up of a number of Russian billionaires who control a consortium known as Alfa Access Renova (AAR).

Russia welcomed the compromise between AAR and BP.

"We are pleased that this situation has been resolved and the shareholders have come to an agreement without the involvement of third parties, including the state," said Igor Sechin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

"This is a positive signal for the Russian market. We support the development of TNK-BP and believe that this company has excellent long-term prospects."

Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of Renova, said the agreement was the result of difficult negotiations.

"Most importantly, emotions were not allowed to prevail over common sense and both sides found the solution that best meets the interests of TNK-BP," he said.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Seven people were killed when a helicopter crashed into an oil rig off the coast of Dubai, officials say.

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The victims were a Briton, an American, a Filipino, a Venezuelan, a Pakistani and two Indian nationals, the country's Civil Aviation Authority said.

The helicopter crashed into the deck of the rig during take-off, Petrofac, the operator of Dubai government's offshore oilfields, said in a statement.

An investigation is under way into the cause of the crash.

The incident happened on at 2020 (1720 GMT) on Wednesday.

The Aerogulf Bell 212 helicopter, carrying two crew members and five passengers, was on a routine flight from the Rashid oil field, 70 kilometres (43.5 miles) from Dubai, Aberdeen-based company Petrofac said.

"During take-off the helicopter crashed onto the deck of the Resilient, the Maersk jack-up drilling rig," it said.

"The aircraft then broke up and fell into the sea."

The helicopter accident happened off the coast of Dubai

The company added: "Immediately following the incident, a fire broke out on the main deck of the drilling rig which was quickly contained and extinguished."

The company said there were no survivors on board.

There were no additional casualties on either the drilling rig or the platform.

All operations on the Rashid field have been suspended and the platform and drilling rig have been secured, Petrofac said.

The company confirmed that the victims were foreign contractors and said that their relatives were being informed.


BBC News

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Thanks for the News

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The US economy has been faring better than thought, according to figures on productivity and the service sector.

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The US service sector grew in August, beating expectations, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

The ISM's non-manufacturing index registered 50.6 in August from 49.5 in July. A figure above 50 denotes growth.

Meanwhile separate data showed productivity better than forecast in the second quarter, while labour costs declined, official data showed.

The figures suggest the world's largest economy is in better shape than had previously been thought.

Productivity - the amount of output for every hour worked - climbed to an annual rate of 4.3% in the three months to June, the Commerce Department said.

In the first three months of the year, productivity rose 2.6%.

Simultaneously, labour costs dropped to 0.5% on a yearly basis, reversing the rise seen in the three months to March when they were 1.2% higher.

For employers, if labour costs rise quicker than productivity, it can contribute to quickening inflation.

The productivity data was viewed positively by analysts, who argue it helps keep a check on inflation at a time when firms are facing a sharp rise in costs.

Economic uncertainty

The latest figures reinforce the view held by some analysts that the US might have seen the worse of the downturn, while Europe is still being squeezed.

In August, figures showed the world's largest economy expanded at a revised rate of 3.3% annually during the second quarter of 2008, much higher than its first estimate of 1.9%.

But there is still much uncertainty surrounding the outlook for the US economy.

Only a day earlier, on Wednesday, the US central bank said the economy faced slow growth and higher prices.

The Federal Reserve's so called Beige Book report said economic activity was "weak, soft or subdued" in the US, as consumers tightened their belts.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

An alleged Colombian drugs lord, Edgar Guillermo Vallejo-Guarin, has been arrested in Spain.

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Mr Vallejo-Guarin, known as Beto the Gypsy, is wanted for drugs-trafficking, money-laundering and murder.

Spanish police say he was using a false identity when they arrested him at a luxury hotel in the capital, Madrid.

The US authorities say he is one of Latin America's top drugs traffickers and had offered a $5m reward for information leading to his arrest.

False documents

The BBC's Danny Wood, in Madrid, says Beto the Gypsy, 47, is suspected of transporting tonnes of drugs into the US and Europe.

The US Drugs Enforcement Agency says he was one of the main sources of Colombian cocaine smuggled into America in the 1990s.

He has been a fugitive since 2001, when he was indicted by a court in Florida.

Police said he had been constantly on the move to avoid arrest, staying in hotels across Europe, and was carrying false documents when he was arrested.

Spain is one of the main entry points to Europe for cocaine smuggled from South America.


BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Fears about a global economic slowdown, heightened by worsening US job figures, have continued to undermine stock markets around the world.

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London's FTSE 100 index lost 2.3% - taking its weekly decline to 7% - its biggest since July 2002.

Markets in Paris and Frankfurt fell by 2.5% as economy concerns spread.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones index clawed back early losses to edge higher despite figures showing the US economy shed 84,000 jobs last month.

But the benchmark US index still had its worst week since May.

Earlier, Japan's main share index fell nearly 3% while markets in Hong Kong, China, Australia and India all slid 2%.

'Ugly' data

The US labour market figures - which showed the unemployment rate rising to 6.1% - were a further jolt to investors who have had to swallow a slew of poor economic data in recent days.

Economists had been expecting 75,000 jobs to be lost while the government also revised upwards.

"This was an ugly number that pretty much confirms that our economy continues to trend downward," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank.

"This just knocks the legs out of any hope of seeing much economic improvement right now."

'Uncertainty'

The FTSE 100 closed down 2.3% at 5,240.70 points. The last time it lost so much value in a week was more than six years ago in the wake of financial scandals such as Enron and WorldCom.

Markets in Paris and Frankfurt continued their recent downward trend, both the Cac-40 index and the Dax-30 dropping about 2.5%.

The Dow Jones index, which lost 3% on Thursday, rose 32.73 points, or 0.3% to 11,220.96, but still ended down 2.8% on the week.

"Given the fact we were down so much yesterday we're seeing a bit of a reflex rally with investors wanting to take advantages of some of the bargains," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at Morgan Asset Management.

The Nasdaq index slipped 3.16 points, or 0.1% to 2,255.88, ending the week 4.7% lower.

Earlier Japan's benchmark Nikkei index fell 361.54 points to 12,196.12 amid a widespread sell-off of shares in Asia.

The Hang Seng index fell more than 3% in Hong Kong while markets also fell sharply in China, Australia and India.

"Amid the uncertainty, few investors are willing to buy," said Masayuki, Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan.

"Several bad things happened at once," he added, explaining the fall.

Gloom

Worries about inflation have prevented central banks in Europe from cutting interest rates to help forestall a slowdown.

But analysts believe this could change soon with economic forecasts across Europe looking increasingly gloomy.

The European Central Bank cut its 2009 growth forecast from 1.5% to 1.2% on Thursday while the UK economy stalled in the second quarter.

In a separate development, the Russian rouble fell against the dollar a day after Russia's central bank intervened to support the currency amid concerns about a flight of foreign capital after the conflict with Georgia.

The central bank sold up to $4bn in reserves, the Financial Times reported, after the rouble slipped to its lowest level since February 2007.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

A Swedish woman may have been locked up in a small cabin for nine years by her partner, Swedish newspaper reports say.

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The woman, 68, who is seriously ill and weighs less than 40kg, has been taken to hospital, media reports say.

Her partner has been arrested and charged with offences relating to her imprisonment. He denies the charges.

Police declined to comment further until after a court hearing in Eksjo, in the southern region of Smaland, later on Friday.

The reports appeared in the Smalands-Tidningen newspaper and the national daily Svenska Dagbladet.

Although police have not revealed details, a request for a public defence lawyer contained information suggesting the woman could have been confined for nine years, Smalands-Tidningen reported.

It said the man - also in his 60s - had initially been investigated for allegedly abusing his partner.

Police spoke to witnesses and then brought the man in for questioning.

The alleged offences are said to have occurred near Eksjo.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

The United States government says it does not see an immediate need for new measures to stimulate the US economy despite a sharp rise in unemployment.

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The latest figures show a rate of 6.1% - the highest since December 2003.

A White House spokeswoman said that while the figures were disappointing, the existing economic stimulus plan was having the impact intended.

A call for more action had been made by the Democratic Party presidential candidate, Barack Obama.

A higher-than-expected 84,000 jobs were lost last month, which together with the unemployment rate has added to concern about the US economy and its ability to stave off a recession.

In a further blow, the Labor Department revised upwards job loss figures for each of the past two months.

The Federal Reserve said earlier that economic activity remained "weak".

A separate report by the Mortgage Bankers Association said that almost one in 10 US homeowners were behind with their mortgage payments or was in foreclosure procedures.

The 9.2% default rate between April and June was up from 8.8% in the previous quarter, and nearly double the rate one year ago.

'Convincing evidence'

The number of jobs lost last month was significantly higher than the 75,000 forecast by economists.

All sectors of the economy were affected with manufacturing worst hit, shedding 61,000 jobs.

The labour market has worsened noticeably in recent months, reflected by the fact that it is now apparent that more jobs were lost in June and July than was previously thought.

Revised figures show that in June, 100,000 jobs were lost while in July 60,000 jobs disappeared. This was up from the 51,000 figure initially forecast for both months.

"It seems unemployment in the US really is accelerating," said the BBC's North America business correspondent, Greg Wood.

"There do not seem to be many sectors of the US economy which are hiring."

'Clearly deteriorating'

In the first eight months of 2008, 605,000 jobs have been lost.

Employers have now reduced their payrolls for eight straight months, with the dramatic downturn in the housing market and the credit crunch hurting all sectors of the economy.

"This is more convincing evidence that the economy is still in trouble," said Gary Thayer, senior economist at Wachovia Securities.

"The economy is clearly deteriorating."

Political focus

Both candidates in November's Presidential election are under pressure to come up with concrete proposals to help the growing number of people out of work and families battling against rising living costs.

Although the US economy grew a robust 3.3% in the second quarter, businesses are struggling to cope with the high cost of raw materials and energy, fragile consumer confidence and weaker export markets.

The Federal Reserve, which meets to decide on interest rates next week, has warned that the US is facing the twin threats of weak growth and rising inflation.

The bleak employment picture means the Fed is unlikely to raise rates in the foreseeable future while further cuts seem equally unlikely against a background of rising inflation.

"The jobs number is weak again but we think this probably is not the time to panic," said Steve Goldman, strategist at Weeden & Co.


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[John]

thanks for the news!

[John]

thanks for the news!

[JohnCenaFan28]

Production at the world's biggest aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, has halted in the US after 27,000 workers at the company went on strike over pay.

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Members of the Machinists Union, mainly based in Seattle, downed tools after last minute negotiations failed.

Boeing says it has offered more than $34,000 (£17,000) per employee in pay and benefits.

Analysts say the stoppage cause further delays in the delivery of the new Dreamliner aircraft.

The union says with that with Boeing's record profits and its members going without a pay rise for the last four years, the offer is not good enough.

Good faith

Union members hoisted their strike signs outside the Boeing plant in Everett, a city north of Seattle, cheering and blasting air horns at passing cars.

Striking workers were told by one union member that they would not falter on the strike.

"We will show the company that they are going to have to go back and bargain in good faith," said the unnamed man. "And we will stay out until every single member gets something in their contract", he told a cheering crowd of workers.

A Boeing spokesman, Tom Healy, said the company was open to further discussions.

"We've bargained in good faith, we've worked hard, but we've not been able to close the gap," said Mr Healy. "We've not been able to come close on an agreement."

Dreamliner delays

The Machinists Union is Boeing's biggest labour group, and the company has said it will not try to assemble aircraft during the strike.

Analysts say that the stoppage could cost Boeing at least $100m each day in lost revenues - as well as delays in delivering the Dreamliner.

Boeing hopes that its latest lightweight passenger jet - which is already two years late - will help it compete with rival manufacturer, Airbus.

Most of the striking workers are based around Seattle in Washington State.

The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani says Boeing is so important to the local economy that the state governor has repeatedly called on both sides to find a solution to the dispute.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

The US presidential rivals, Barack Obama and John McCain have said they will appear together on the anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks.

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The senators said they would take part in the commemorations in New York - the site of two of the attacks.

The two candidates said they would put aside politics to honour the memory of the nearly 3,000 people who died.

Hijacked planes were crashed into New York's Twin Towers, the Pentagon in Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.

"All of us came together on 9/11 - not as Democrats or Republicans - but as Americans," the joint statement said.

"In smoke-filled corridors and on the steps of the Capitol; at blood banks and at vigils - we were united as one American family.

"On Thursday, we will put aside politics and come together to renew that unity, to honour the memory of each and every American who died, and to grieve with the families and friends who lost loved ones."

The event at Ground Zero - site of the collapsed Twin Towers of the World Trade Center - will mark the first time Mr McCain and Mr Obama have been together since they were formally nominated as presidential candidates at their parties' just-completed national conventions.

The two agreed not to run television ads critical of each other on Thursday and Mr McCain's campaign team said they would not run any ads.

With the parties' nominating conventions over, the candidates have been gearing up for the last weeks of campaigning up to the 4 November election.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Morocco for the final leg of a tour of North Africa.

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After a historic trip to Libya, she made brief visits to Tunisia and Algeria, before arriving in the Moroccan capital Rabat.

Morocco has a good relationship with the US, even if many Moroccans strongly disapprove of American foreign policy.

Ms Rice's focus in her short visit is believed to be what the US calls "the war on terror".

Morocco says it has broken up more than 30 cells sending fighters to Iraq in the last five years, and the US and North African governments believe there is a growing threat from religious extremists in the region.

Local disputes

Other topics for discussion include the economic links between the US and Morocco, and North African regional co-operation, which is in a disastrous state.

Morocco is also particularly keen to bring up Western Sahara, the disputed territory the kingdom considers as its southern provinces.

Morocco wants US support for its proposal of semi-autonomy for the region, a proposal which has already been rejected by the Polisario Front, the armed movement struggling for total Independence from Morocco.

Historically Morocco has maintained a good relationship with the US, and this has not changed in recent years. The US sees the country as a stable friend in a difficult region, and a partner in the fight against Islamic extremism.

Morocco is proud of what it calls its tolerant brand of Islam, and has cracked down hard on radical elements in its society.

But Moroccans from all walks of life are fiercely opposed to the US invasion of Iraq, and the US's support for Israel.

Dr Rice will leave the region on Sunday, without visiting Mauritania, after the US strongly condemned last month's coup d'etat there. The most significant part of her trip will undoubtedly have been the historic visit to Libya, the first by an American secretary of state for more than half a century.


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[JohnCenaFan28]

Protesters greeted Turkish President Abdullah Gul on a landmark visit to Armenia that he said "promises hope for the future".

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Alongside his Armenian counterpart, he attended a World Cup qualifying match between the two national teams, which had never played each other before.

The visit signals a thaw in relations between the two countries.

But President Gul was met by angry protesters carrying flags and signs reading: "Recognise the genocide."

'Lack of trust'

This is the first time a Turkish leader has set foot in the country, following Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's invitation to attend the match, which Turkey won 2-0.

But the game was held amid tight security - 5,000 police were deployed - and Armenian fans reportedly booed and hissed as President Gul took his seat behind a special bullet-proof area at Yerevan's Hrazdan stadium.

The two leaders met before the match in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

"I was happy to see that we were unanimous with the Armenian side on the need for mutual dialogue to remove barriers to improving bilateral ties," said President Gul when he arrived back in Turkey.

"I underlined that there is no problem that dialogue cannot solve and that dialogue will help alleviate the deep lack of trust between regional countries," he added.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency, praised the visit as "courageous and historic".

"It allows hope for progress soon in establishing normal relations between Turkey and Armenia," he said.

Visit 'a betrayal'

The two countries have waged a war of words over Armenia's attempts to label as genocide a mass killing of Armenian civilians by Ottoman forces during World War I.

Before leaving Ankara, Mr Gul said he hoped the match would help lift the barriers that divided the two nations, which have no diplomatic ties.

However, the invitation has already sparked a major debate in Turkey, with some nationalists regarding the fact that the president took it up as a betrayal of the country's national interests.

More than a dozen countries, various international bodies and many Western historians have recognised the civilian killings as genocide.

Turkey admits that many Armenians were killed but it denies any genocide, saying the deaths were a part of the world war.

The two countries have had no diplomatic ties since Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Their common border has been closed since the war between Armenia and Turkey's ally, Azerbaijan, in the 1990s over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.


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