Islamist militia 'shot Libya rebel Abdel Fattah Younes'

Libyan rebel commander Gen Abdel Fattah Younes was shot dead by a militia linked to his own side, a rebel minister has said.

Ali Tarhouni said Gen Younes was killed by members of the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade, which is an Islamist group.

Gen Younes defected to the rebels in February after serving in the Libyan leadership since the 1969 coup which brought Col Muammar Gaddafi to power.

Meanwhile Nato says it bombed Libyan state TV transmitters overnight.

The Libyan Broadcasting Authority said three of its technicians were killed and 15 other people injured in the attack in the capital, Tripoli.

The alliance said it had disabled three satellite transmission dishes through a "precision air strike".

It said the operation was intended to stop "inflammatory broadcasts" by Col Gaddafi's government.

 

 

 

Nato said the strike would "reduce the regime's ability to oppress civilians" but also "preserve television broadcast infrastructure that will be needed after the conflict".

Libyan state TV was still on air following the Nato statement.

'Slap in the face'

Oil minister Tarhouni told reporters in Benghazi a leader of the militia had provided information on the circumstances of Younes' death.

Mr Tarhouni said Younes and two of his aides were killed after being recalled to the rebel stronghold for questioning.

Younes' shot and burned body, and the bodies of his aides, were found on the edge of Benghazi on Friday.

"His lieutenants did it," Mr Tarhouni said, adding that the killers were still at large, Reuters news agency reported.

The minister did not provide a motive for the killing, which he said was still being investigated.

Col Gaddafi's government said the killing was proof that the rebels were not capable of ruling Libya.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said: "It is a nice slap [in] the face of the British that the [rebel National Transitional] council that they recognised could not protect its own commander of the army."

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Abdel Fattah Younes

 

• Helped Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi take power in the 1969 coup that ousted King Idris
• Close advisor to the Libyan leader for four decades, rising to the post of general and training Col Gaddafi's special forces
• Appointed interior minister
• Quit the government on 22 February 2011 and defected to the rebels - one of the earliest such moves by a senior official
• Appointed as the opposition's military chief in April, but faced mistrust due to his past ties to Col Gaddafi

Mr Ibrahim also said Younes was killed by al-Qaeda, repeating a claim that the group is the strongest force within the rebel movement.

"By this act, al-Qaeda wanted to mark out its presence and its influence in this region," he said.

"The other members of the National Transitional Council knew about it but could not react because they are terrified of al-Qaeda," he added.

Middle East analyst Shashank Joshi said the concern that emerges most sharply from the incident is not so much that the National Transitional Council will splinter before Tripoli falls, but that it might do so afterwards.

The general - Col Gaddafi's former interior minister - joined the rebels at the beginning of the Libyan uprising in February.

The BBC's Ian Pannell in the rebel-held city of Misrata says the death will feed international suspicions that the rebels cannot be trusted.

 

Mexico: Missing journalist Yolanda Ordaz found killed

The body of a Mexican journalist who worked for the Notiver newspaper has been found dumped outside the offices of another newspaper in Veracruz state.

Crime reporter Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz had been missing since Sunday night.

Officials said organised crime was suspected in the murder of Ms Ordaz, who was found with her throat cut.

Last month, columnist Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, who wrote about politics and crime for Notiver, was killed in his house in the port city of Veracruz.

His wife and son were also killed in the attack.

Ms Ordaz had been reported missing at the weekend. Her body was found on Tuesday outside the offices of another newspaper in Boca del Rio, a city next to the port of Veracruz.

Authorities are looking at links between her murder and those of Mr Lopez Velasco and his family.

The attorney general of Veracruz state, Reynaldo Escobar, said that "everything pointed to" organised crime being behind the killing of Ms Ordaz.

However, he denied that she had been killed because of her work.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists says that 15 reporters have been killed in Mexico since 2010. Four of these murders have been confirmed as relating to the journalists' work.

 

Colombian salsa star, singer Joe Arroyo dies

The Colombian salsa star, Joe Arroyo, has died at the age of 55, after being in hospital for a month with heart, lung and kidney problems.

Arroyo, whose most famous hit was La Rebelion, began singing in brothels in the Caribbean city of Cartagena at the age of eight.

He went on to sing for a number of Colombia's most famous salsa groups.

But he also drew on a rich heritage of other Afro-Colombian rhythms during his career, and composed over 100 songs.

His wife said Arroyo died "peacefully" in Barranquilla, another Colombian city on the Caribbean coast.

"A great loss for music and for Colombia" was how one fan - the country's president, Juan Manuel Santos - described Arroyo's death on the social network, Twitter.

The man born Alvaro Jose Arroyo Gonzalez had a colourful life, including problems with drugs, all of which provided material for his music.

He rose to fame in the 1970s, singing in the band Fruko y Sus Tesos, before later setting up his own band, La Verdad - "The Truth".

He was due to be awarded a lifetime achievement award at this year's Latin Grammy celebrations.

 

Mullany trial: Pair guilty of Antigua honeymoon murders

 

 

Two men have been found guilty of murdering Welsh honeymoon couple Ben and Catherine Mullany in Antigua.

The couple were shot on the Caribbean island on 27 July, 2008, exactly three years ago.

Kaniel Martin, 23, and Avie Howell, 20, both denied killing the couple from Pontardawe, Swansea Valley.

They will be sentenced on 26 September and the Director of Public Prosecutions in Antigua said he is considering asking for the death penalty.

Mr Mullany, a student physiotherapist and former policeman, and his wife, a doctor at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, died after they were shot in the back of the head.

Their parents broke down in tears as the jury delivered its verdict after 10 hours and 20 minutes of deliberation.

Afterwards in a statement, they said: "We will never be able to comprehend the senseless nature of their deaths, the total disregard shown for human life and that no remorse has ever been shown".

Antigua's High Court, in St John's, heard Mrs Mullany died almost instantly and Mr Mullany a week later after he was flown back to Swansea to be placed on a life-support machine.

 

Kaniel Martin and Avie Howell will be sentenced in September

'No joy'

The following month Martin and Howell were charged with their murders and that of 43-year-old shopkeeper Woneta Anderson.

The two men, who refused to face questioning in court, had protested their innocence throughout the two-month trial, in which more than 90 witnesses gave evidence.

The Mullanys were shot in their resort cottage on Antigua two weeks after they married.

They were buried in the grounds of St John Evangelist Church, Cilybebyll, near Pontardaw - the same church where they had married.

In their statement issued by South Wales Police, the couple's families said: "There is no joy at today's verdict, just a sense of relief that after three years of waiting there is justice for our children, and for Woneta Anderson and her family.

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These two individuals can never again inflict the same anguish and devastation to any other family as they have to ours."”

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Ben and Catherine Mullany's families

'Silent witness'

"These two individuals can never again inflict the same anguish and devastation to any other family as they have to ours."

During the trial the jury was reminded of the testimony of one of a number of expert witnesses who said a bandana with Howell's DNA was found at Mrs Anderson's shop.

Recordings found on Mr Mullany's stolen Nokia phone were replayed, in which one of the voices identified himself as "Sample Dan" - an alias used by Martin.

Det Supt Keith Niven, who led the Metropolitan Police's investigation team, said he believed Howell and Martin had set out to kill the couple.

"The level of violence inflicted upon their victims in order to steal such low value property was incomprehensible and leads me to believe that murder was their primary intention," he said.

He added: "Ben and Catherine must have been terrified when they were awoken and confronted in their room by two strangers pointing a gun at them.

"Throughout this investigation and throughout the trial the two defendants have shown no signs of remorse not even to Ben and Catherine's parents who have been present in court."

Although Martin admitted to lying to police at first about being near the hotel, his defence team said this was only "because he was scared," the jury was told.

Antigua's Director of Public Prosecutions, Anthony Armstrong, said he "reserved the right to request the death penalty at the sentencing hearing on the 26th September"

Mr Armstrong, the prosecutor in the trial, described the evidence as compelling.

He said: "A defendant wherever he steps, whatever he leaves, will serve as a silent witness against him.

 

Sgt Ian Bourne reads a statement on behalf of the Mullanys' families

"Physical evidence cannot be wrong. Only human failure to find it, study and understand it can diminish its value."

The prosecution received help from senior British detectives who were deployed to the Caribbean island following a plea from the country's prime minister who was concerned about the impact the couple's murder would have on tourism.

UK forensics expert Dr Christopher Moynehan, who also gave evidence at a trial into the murder of BBC TV presenter Jill Dando, told the court that tests found gunshot residue on clothing belonging to Howell and Martin.

'Natural ability'

After the trial, members of the Mullany family paid tribute to the couple.

They said Mrs Mullany was destined to work in the medical profession, having harboured dreams of becoming a doctor from an early age.

She had attended Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera and was described by former teachers as an excellent pupil.

After graduating in 2002 from the University of London, she worked at numerous departments at Singleton and Morriston hospitals in Swansea as part of her training to be a GP.

Hospital officials described her as having a "natural ability to care and being very compassionate" - especially while working at the paediatric unit in Singleton.

Among the young patients she cared for was the son of Swansea City footballer Ferrie Bodde, after the youngster suffered a severe asthma attack.

The Mullanys began their honeymoon in Antigua two days after their wedding.

The couple spent their first night as a married couple camping in an unknown location. They had deliberately kept the whereabouts a secret from their family and friends - and this was why they had chosen Somewhere Only We Know by Keane as their first dance at their wedding reception.

Since their murders, the couple's families have set up a charity, the Mullany Fund, which hopes to widen participation in the field of medicine and physiotherapy by offering grants to students, many of whom are facing sharp rises in tuition fees.

 

Mexico jails US-born teenager for drug murders

A Mexican judge has sentenced a US-born teenager to three years in prison for four murders, which he said he carried out on the orders of a drug gang.

Edgar Jimenez Lugo, 14 at the time of the killings, said he was under the influence of drugs and threatened by gang leaders, according to officials.

The sentence was the maximum allowed for a juvenile in the state of Morelos, where he was tried.

Jimenez was born in California, but has spent most of his life in Mexico.

The juvenile court in Morelos found the teenager guilty of killing four people, whose mutilated bodies were founding hanging from a bridge in Cuernavaca in 2010.

A court spokesman said Jimenez's three-year sentence was effective from 2 January 2010. He will be kept in a juvenile facility.

Jimenez, nicknamed El Ponchis, was arrested by the Mexican army last December. He was trying to catch a plane from Cuernavaca with two of his sisters to get back to San Diego, where his Mexican mother lives.

Intimidation

Officials say the boy confessed to working for the South Pacific drug cartel in Morelos state.

He told them he had been abducted and given drugs, and then ordered to carry out the killings.

At the time of his arrest, the Reforma newspaper quoted Edgar Jimenez as saying: "I felt bad doing it. I was forced to do it. They said they would kill me if I didn't do it.

"I only beheaded them, but never hung [bodies] from bridges, never."

Hanging bodies from bridges at busy intersections is a practice among Mexican cartels as a way to intimidate rivals.

Some 40,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon began deploying troops to fight the cartels in late 2006.

 

UK boost for Bolivian battle against cocaine production

The British government has announced a new co-operation deal with Bolivia in the fight against drug trafficking.

During a two-day visit to Bolivia, Britain's Minister for Latin America, Jeremy Browne, said the Serious Organised Crime Agency in London will join forces with the counter-narcotics police in La Paz.

Significant quantities of Bolivian cocaine end up on the streets of Britain.

An example of the co-operation that already exists between Britain and Bolivia in the fight against drug trafficking was shown off during the ministerial visit.

Mr Browne saw for himself how £500,000 ($800,000) from Britain has funded the building a forensic drug laboratory, which has proved successful in analysing and verifying evidence in drug smuggling cases.

And Mr Browne outlined the aim of British police working more closely with their Bolivian counterparts in future: "The main purpose of this co-operation will be to provide training on investigative techniques to combat drug smuggling."

 

BBC News - UK boost for Bolivian battle against cocaine production

 

The collaboration would also help improve border control, he said.

And he recognised Britain's responsibility as one of the top consumers in Europe of Bolivian cocaine: "We are trying to reduce the demand for drugs in Britain, but we also realise that we do have a responsibility to try to reduce the supply."

Mr Browne called on the Bolivian government to reduce its production of coca, the raw material for making cocaine, which is grown legally in Bolivia for cultural and medicinal purposes.

According to the United Nations, more than 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) are given over to coca farming in Bolivia.

The authorities acknowledge that half of that area supplies drug traffickers. Independent estimates of illicit cultivation are higher.

 

Ollanta Humala is sworn in as new Peru president

 

 

Former army officer Ollanta Humala has been sworn in as Peru's new president, vowing to eradicate poverty and social exclusion.

His inauguration was being attended by regional leaders, although not by outgoing President Alan Garcia.

Mr Humala defeated right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori in June's second round.

Once a fiery nationalist, Mr Humala says his approach is now of the moderate left, modelled on Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Mr Garcia left the presidential palace, handing over the sash for his successor.

Breaking with tradition, he did not travel to Congress to attend the inauguration.

Mr Garcia had previously indicated he would not be present in order to avoid a repeat of 1990 when he was loudly booed when handing over to President Alberto Fujimori.

Then Peru was mired in hyperinflation and beset by a bloody leftist insurgency.

 

Mexico prison shooting: Police row over response

Police in one of Mexico's most violent cities, Ciudad Juarez, have accused federal colleagues of firing at them during a deadly prison riot.

City police chief Julian Leyzaola told reporters his armoured vehicle had been shot at by up to 16 federal police officers as he approached the jail.

But the federal government accused him of breaking through a cordon.

Seventeen people died when one group of inmates reportedly attacked rivals from another drug gang inside the jail.

A spokesman for the city's authorities told the BBC the attackers had used weapons seized from prison guards to carry out the massacre on Monday night.

Further revelations on Wednesday suggested weakness, disorganisation and possible corruption at the jail close to the US border.

It took security forces several hours to regain control.

'Third clash'

 

"I saw a federal officer in front of my sport utility vehicle firing at me and in turning to a side, there was a group of between 10 and 15 federal officers firing at my vehicle," said Mr Leyzaola, who was uninjured.

In response, the federal public safety department issued a statement to say federal police had opened fire because Mr Leyzaola had refused to stop and identify himself.

"During an operation to prevent an escape of prisoners, he broke through the security cordon and, acting against security protocol, went through a checkpoint without stopping," the statement said.

"And for this reason his vehicle was fired upon to make it stop."

When the authorities finally regained control of the prison, they found 17 people dead, two inmates with gunshot wounds and 72 others with lesser injuries.

It is believed to be the third clash between federal and local police in the city since the start of the year.

Damning video

 

This police detective was running for cover during the operation

Federal police added that two females, including a woman killed in the fighting, were found inside the prison.

Local TV footage seen by the Associated Press news agency suggests guards may have actually allowed the bloodbath to happen.

The footage reportedly shows hooded, armed inmates talking with guards, who then leave the area before inmates grab cell keys, open a door and apparently fire on those inside with a machine pistol and an assault rifle.

Julio Cesar Castaneda, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office, said it was investigating reports that even more women had entered the prison for a party held by members of one of the city's street gangs, and that most had left after the fight.

The office was also investigating reports that some prison employees may have attended the party.

Federal security spokesman Alejandro Poire called for changes at the city-run prison, saying security at state and local jails across Mexico should be "reviewed and strengthened".

 

Air France Rio crash: Pilots 'lacked training'

The pilots of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 lacked adequate training, French investigators have found.

France's BEA authority said pilots had failed to discuss repeated stall warnings and did not have the training to deal with the hazard. Air France rejected the accusation.

BEA called for mandatory training in high-altitude stalling for all pilots.

All 228 people on board the Airbus 330 from Brazil to France were killed.

'No passenger alert'

BEA head Jean-Paul Troadec said that "the situation was salvageable" during the flight's final minutes.

Investigators said an account of those minutes, captured on flight recorders, concluded that the crew had failed to "formally identify the loss of altitude" despite an alarm ringing for nearly a minute.

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Nothing at this stage can allow the crew's technical competence to be blamed”

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Air France statement

• Air France crash: The long hunt for answers

"The first event which triggered it all is the disconnection of the automatic pilot following the loss of the speed indicators, very probably after they were frozen by ice crystals," said Mr Troadec.

"At this time the pilot should have initiated a procedure known as 'Unreliable IAS (indicated air speed)', a procedure which consists of taking an angle of five degrees, but the angle they took was far superior.

"That is why the plane flew upwards, the plane took a rapid vertical flight of 7,000 feet/minute... The angle they took was too much," Mr Troadec said.

The BEA report said the co-pilots in charge of the plane when the emergency began "had received no high-altitude training for unreliable IAS (indicated air speed) procedure and manual air craft handling".

The report also said that the pilots failed to alert passengers to the crisis as they struggled to regain control.

The authority issued 10 new safety recommendations, including mandatory training for all pilots in France to ensure they could handle a high-altitude stall.

A statement from Air France rejected the BEA's findings, saying that "nothing at this stage can allow the crew's technical competence to be blamed" for the crash.

"The crew on duty showed professionalism and stayed committed until the end to operating the flight. Air France salutes their courage and determination in these extreme conditions," it said.

 

Flight recorders were found this year

"The altitude-loss alarm was activated and deactivated several times, contradicting the real status of the aircraft, which contributed strongly to the crew's difficulty in analysing the situation," Air France said.

Airbus said it welcomed the report and would give full support to the process, so that the industry could "benefit from any lessons to be learnt from this event".

Air France and Airbus are being investigated for alleged manslaughter in connection with the crash.

"The BEA establishes the facts and makes recommendations based on those facts," AFP quoted Environment and Transport Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet as saying on RTL radio.

"As to who is responsible, that is up to the courts," she added.

Flight AF 447 went down on 1 June 2009 after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours into a flight from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris.

The wreckage of the plane was discovered after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

 

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez in middle class appeal

The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, says he wants to open up his socialist political project to the middle classes and private sector.

Mr Chavez said his government had to convince Venezuela's middle classes they were needed.

Speaking by telephone on state television, he said he was entering a more reflective period of his life.

Mr Chavez recently underwent cancer treatment in Cuba, but plans to stand for re-election next year.

The Venezuelan leader made his comments a day after he celebrated his 57th birthday, when - appearing in yellow rather than his characteristic red shirt - he told a rally of cheering supporters that he was in no mood to leave office in the near future.

In Friday's telephone interview, Mr Chavez said the treatment to remove a tumour had led him to radically change his life towards a "more diverse, more reflective and multi-faceted" period.

He told his supporters to eliminate divisions and dogma, and end what he called the abuse of symbols such as the term "socialist".

"Why do we have to always have to wear a red shirt?" said Mr Chavez. "And the same goes for the word 'socialism'."

The president cited the example of a mayor in the governing party who inaugurated a "Socialist Avenue", which Mr Chavez described as "stupid".

"We need to reflect and introduce changes in our discourse and in our actions."

Cuban lessons

Mr Chavez, who came to power in 1999, said the private sector and the middle classes were "vital" to his political project.

He said it was a shame that attempts to be more inclusive of these groups in society had been criticised by some in official circles in Venezuela.

"Raul Castro is leading a process of self-criticism," said Mr Chavez, hinting that Venezuela could learn from the reforms being undertaken by the president of Cuba, who has made some concessions to the private sector since taking over from Fidel Castro in 2006.

Mr Chavez said his government needed to correct the perception that small businesses would be taken over by the state.

"We have to make sure no-one believes that," he said. "We have to convince them about our real project, that we need this sector and that we want to acknowledge their contribution."

 

Plane from New York crashes at Guyana airport

A plane has crashed and broken in two on landing at Guyana's main airport in the capital, Georgetown, causing injuries but no deaths.

The Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737-800 flight BW-523 from New York had 163 people aboard.

The plane apparently overshot the runway at Cheddi Jagan International Airport during wet weather.

It halted near a 200-ft (61-m) ravine that could have resulted in dozens of deaths, Guyana's president said.

 

Local resident Ava Hammond sent the BBC pictures of the wrecked plane

"We are very, very grateful that more people were not injured," Bharrat Jagdeo added, quoted by AP news agency.

The airport was due to re-open at 1000 local time (1400 GMT).

There were 157 passengers and six crew aboard the plane when the accident occurred at 0132 local time, according to a statement from Caribbean Airlines.

The plane had made a stop in Trinidad en route from New York.

Rescuers struggled in the dark to free passengers from the wreckage.

A woman quoted by Guyana's Kaieteur News service described hearing a loud sound when it landed in Guyana, and said everyone began screaming.

"It was terror," she said. "I was praying to Jesus."

Her husband opened the emergency door and passengers began escaping, she added.

Another passenger, 42-year-old Adis Cambridge, said: "I realised that everything was on top of me, people and bags. I was the second to last person to get off that plane in the dark.

 

President Bharrat Jagdeo (left) spoke to reporters at the airport

"I hit my head on the roof. It was so scary."

She and other passengers described jumping first onto the wing and then down onto a track below to escape.

Geeta Ramsingh, 41, of Philadelphia, quoted by AP, said passengers applauded as the plane landed, but applause quickly "turned to screams".

"The plane sped up as if attempting to take off again. It is then that I smelled gas in the cabin and people started to shout and holler," she said.

"I am in pain, but very thankful to be alive."

Ms Ramsingh said a taxi driver reached the crash site before rescuers and asked for $20 to drive her back to the terminal.

"I had to pay, but in times of emergencies, you don't charge people for a ride," she said.

'Airport chaos'

 

Kristopher Kimlin, who was not on the crashed plane but was trying to fly out of the airport, told BBC News there was "chaos" after the crash.

"The airport is simply not set up to deal with this kind of situation - they were overwhelmed," he said.

"There were queues of people around the entire terminal building and out of the door. There were maybe 1,000 people.

Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy told the French news agency AFP one person had suffered a broken leg and several others sustained minor bruises.

They are being treated in hospital in Georgetown.

Caribbean Airlines, which is majority-owned by Trinidad and Tobago with Jamaica holding a minority stake, does not have a history of serious safety problems.

 

Rangers 0-1 Malmo

 

 

Rangers face an uphill battle to qualify for the next round of the Champions League after losing the first leg of their qualifier against Malmo.

The Swedes took the lead on 18 minutes when a flick from Wilton Figueiredo set up Daniel Larsson, who smashed in.

Rangers improved and should have overturned the deficit but Steven Naismith shot wide twice in succession.

Malmo kept Rangers keeper Allan McGregor busy and, though Steve Davis went close, the hosts could not reply.

Figueiredo was a constant threat for the Swedish champions and he twice had shots well saved, one a free-kick and another a curling effort after a fine counter attack.

Yet the way in which Ally McCoist's side failed to make a breakthrough in this third qualifying round tie leaves them a huge task in the return leg on 3 August, with thoughts of making the group stages a long way off.

They will need to begin better than they did on this occasion - they were sluggish at the start and it was from Steven Whittaker's mistake that Larsson struck what proved to be the winner.

The Rangers defender lost possession on the right side of his own penalty box, allowing Malmo to pounce, and Larsson fired in to give further encouragement to their already vocal fans.

Rangers improved following David Weir's hamstring injury after half an hour, which made them change tactics and employ two centre-backs rather than three.

And soon afterwards Davis carved out their first real chance by going close with a free-kick, before his cross was mistimed by Nikica Jelavic when the striker looked well placed.

Rangers boss McCoist had warned of Malmo's attacking threat before the game and Larsson missed a chance to make it 2-0 soon after the break when he could not connect with Figueiredo's right-wing cross, and the Brazilian forced two fine saves from McGregor.

Rangers should have overturned the deficit in the space of a few minutes, but Naismith missed on two occasions, both chances coming at the back post from Jelavic crosses across goal.

As the hosts increased the pressure on their opponents, Davis shot just over from a well-worked effort, but Malmo were always a threat on the break and McCoist can have few complaints in what proved to be an open but frustrating encounter.

The difference was Larsson, a name that has already caused Rangers fans torment in the past.

And his strike will create extra pressure for the next encounter, with qualification for the group stage crucial to Rangers' financial situation.

 

Moody's warns it may downgrade its Spanish bond rating

 

 

Moody's has warned it may downgrade the credit rating of Spanish government bonds, saying last week's second rescue package for Greece had done little to ease debt concerns in the eurozone.

The rating agency said it was reviewing Spain's current Aa2 grade, adding that if it was downgraded, it would probably be by just one level, to Aa3.

Moody's added that the Spanish economy remained "subdued".

The Spanish government has now called an early general election.

The announcement was made just hours after Moody's made its credit rating warning, and will see Spain go to the polls on 20 November.

Explaining the decision, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he wished to "project political and economic certainty" over the months ahead.

However, it could be benefit the opposition conservative Popular Party, as it is ahead of the ruling Socialist Party in the polls.

The government could have waited until March of next year to hold the general election.

'Bond precedent'

In explaining why it was reviewing Spain's credit rating, Moody's highlighted the fact that as part of the second bail-out deal for Greece, private bondholders were being invited to participate.

The private bondholders, such as banks, are being asked to exchange their current Greek bonds for ones which pay a lower rate of interest over a longer term.

Moody's said this set a "precedent", adding that it had "signalled a clear shift in risk for bondholders of countries with high debt burdens or large budget deficits".

However, if Spain is downgraded to Aa3, this remains a healthy investment grade.

Moody's also said five Spanish banks could have their credit ratings downgraded because of the same concerns.

These include the largest two lenders, Banco Santander and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).

'Fiscal slippage'

Despite the forthcoming general election campaign, Spain's central government is continuing to enforce cost-cutting efforts to reduce its public deficit.

However, Madrid is hampered by the fact that Spain is a heavily devolved country, and its regional governments, such as those in Catalonia and the Basque region, are not moving as fast or as deep in trimming their spending.

Moody's highlighted this problem, warning of "fiscal slippage" at the regional and local government level.

Spain is also struggling with the eurozone's highest unemployment rate, which now stands at 20.9%.

Spain's main share index was down 0.7% in afternoon trading, after falling as much as 2.4% immediately following Moody's announcement.

The yield on the Spanish government's 10-year bonds rose 10 percentage points to 6.10%.

The euro declined, falling 0.3% against the dollar to $1.4287.

"The trigger is that the [Greek] deal last week has not really rebuilt confidence across the eurozone, so Spain is still on their radar screens with costs rising," said Giada Giani, analyst at Citigroup.

 

Eurozone inflation unexpectedly slows in July to 2.5%

The preliminary estimate is down from 2.7% in June, according to the European Union statistics office Eurostat.

The July reading comes as a surprise after data earlier this week suggested inflation in Germany, Europe's largest economy, edged up to 2.4%.

The ECB has raised rates twice so far this year to try to control inflation.

The central bank wants to keep inflation below 2%.

'Compelling case'

No change had been expected in the inflation rate in July.

It is not clear what drove the decline, as Eurostat's initial estimate does not give a breakdown of the numbers - that is only released with the final estimate.

Economists said that the chance of the ECB raising rates from the current 1.5% before the end of the year now appeared less likely.

"While a further interest rate hike in the fourth quarter is clearly very possible, we suspect that slowing eurozone growth and recurrent sovereign debt problems will present an increasingly compelling case for the ECB to hold off from further monetary policy tightening this year," said Howard Archer from IHS Global Insight.

"We also anticipate that the case for further ECB action in 2011 will be diluted by mounting evidence that the second-round inflationary effects from higher energy and commodity prices are being contained.

"We currently expect the ECB to keep interest rates at 1.5% through the rest of 2011, then lift them gradually further to 2.25% by the end of 2012."

 

Nato takes over Kosovo border posts after clashes

Nato has deployed peacekeepers in the north of Kosovo after a border post with Serbia was burnt down and a Kosovo policeman killed.

Serbian nationalists in Kosovo attacked the post on Wednesday after Kosovo's government sent police to enforce a ban on imports from Serbia.

Border posts in the area, which rejects Kosovan independence from Serbia, had been staffed by ethnic Serb police.

Kosovo's government suspected them of turning a blind eye to banned imports.

Nato officials said only small vehicles were being allowed through two border posts at the centre of the dispute, and that they were being checked for weapons.

Serbia has also reinforced police on its side of the border, to prevent "extremists from Serbia going to Kosovo", Serbian police chief Milorad Veljovic told Reuters news agency.

Wednesday's violence was the worst in several months, according to the BBC's Mark Lowen in Belgrade, Serbia.

It began when a group of about 200 Serbian nationalists approached the Jarinje crossing, throwing firebombs.

They forced the Kosovan police and customs officers, and the EU police assisting them, to flee across the border into Serbia.

Serbs set fire to the the border crossing at Jarinje in northern Kosovo

The post was burnt down and bulldozed.

One of the Kosovan police officers was killed and several others wounded when they were shot at.

The move by Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci to reassert Pristina's control over the region has been criticised by the EU and the US as provocative.

The region has not accepted the mandate of the Pristina government since Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Serbia itself has also refused to recognise its former territory's independence.

 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Maid 'may file civil suit'

 

 

The hotel maid who accuses ex-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape may file a civil suit if prosecutors do not press criminal charges, her lawyer says.

The Manhattan district attorney's office has publicly announced they had doubts about the credibility of Nafissatou Diallo's allegations.

Making her first public appearance, Ms Diallo spoke of the pain the case had caused her and her family.

Mr Strauss-Kahn has denied the charges.

"What she wants is justice and if the prosecutors are not going to bring this case to trial then we have to look for justice and what I look forward to is putting this case before a jury," Ms Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson told a news conference.

When pressed by journalists when he might launch this case, he said: "Soon. Soon is soon."

On Wednesday, Ms Diallo and Mr Thompson met prosecutors for eight hours.

It was their first meeting since the Manhattan district attorney's office said it had doubts about her credibility because of false statements on her asylum application and a taped recording of a telephone conversation between Ms Diallo and a friend in an Arizona jail.

Mr Thompson said a translated transcript revealed that the conversation, the day after the alleged attempted rape, focused on what had happened to Ms Diallo, and not on Mr Strauss-Kahn's wealth.

Ms Diallo was reported to have discussed with the man how to obtain money from the French politician.

'Stop crying'

Mr Thompson was speaking after Ms Diallo made a emotional public appeal for people to believe her allegations.

"A lot of things people say about me are not true," she continued.

Her daughter, she said, had told her: "You have to remember this guy is a powerful man - everybody knows that. But for you, only the people who work with you, your neighbours, the people back home, know you.

"But those people say good things about you because they know you. Please mum, stop crying, be strong for me."

She said she had promised her daughter she would be strong "for you and every other woman in the world".

"What happened to me I don't want to happen to any other woman," she said.

 

Mongolian spy chief can be extradited to Germany

A Mongolian spy chief - who claims he was tricked into coming to the UK so he could be arrested - can be extradited, the High Court has said.

In February, District Judge Quentin Purdy, at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, ruled Bat Khurts should be sent to Germany.

Mr Bat, 41, is wanted for kidnapping a Mongolian national suspected of murdering a government official.

His appeal was rejected by the High Court on Friday.

The Mongolian government said it was "very disappointed" with the judgment.

It declined to appeal to the Supreme Court but said it would be "taking this matter to the International Court of Justice".

At the earlier hearing Mr Bat's lawyer claimed he was lured to the UK by the Foreign Office, on the pretence of attending high-level government talks on intelligence co-operation, so he could be arrested and extradited to Germany.

Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Foskett dismissed his appeal but his lawyers said the case may now be taken to the European Court of Human Rights.

'No evidence of luring'

Lord Justice Moses said Mr Bat "has not established that he was lured into this country".

He said: "Far from being lured, at every stage when the government of Mongolia, particularly through its ambassador, attempted to arrange meetings, they were rebuffed."

Lord Justice Moses said they rejected the allegation that Mr Bat was tricked into coming to Britain and said there was "no question of any official in the United Kingdom luring the appellant to this country in the belief that he was going to meet United Kingdom officials to discuss security matters".

Mr Bat was allegedly involved in the 2003 kidnap of Enkhbat Damiran, who was taken from France to Berlin, drugged and flown to the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator.

Mr Enkhbat was wanted in connection with the murder of Mongolia's Infrastructure Minister Zorig Sanjasuuren in 1998.

At the hearing earlier this year his lawyer, Alun Jones QC, claimed Mr Bat, head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, should not have been detained at Heathrow Airport in September because he was covered by diplomatic immunity.

He said Mr Bat had been granted a business visa for a visit during which he was supposed to meet Britain's National Security Adviser, Sir Peter Ricketts, and strategy and counter-terrorism director, William Nye.

Judge Purdy said he believed Mr Bat was invited for genuine security talks but the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) had heard about it and were aware of the outstanding warrant from Germany.

 

Ukraine mine blast leaves 16 dead

 

An explosion at a mine in the Ukraine's eastern Lugansk region has left at least 16 people dead, the emergencies ministry says.

A further 10 people were unaccounted for, and two miners were being treated in hospital, reports said.

The explosion took place at 01:57 local time (22:57 GMT).

A lack of equipment and safety standards make Ukrainian coal mines among the most dangerous in the world, and accidents are common

 

Poland: Russia shares blame for presidential jet crash

A Polish report has found that Russia was partly to blame for the air crash last year which killed then-President Lech Kaczynski.

It said that pilot error was the main reason for the crash, but that air controllers and poor lighting at Smolensk were also at fault.

Poland's Defence Minister Bogdan Klich resigned in the wake of the report.

The crash killed 96 people and has been a source of tension between the two countries.

A Russian report released in January laid full blame on Poland.

But Poland, while accepting some of the findings, said that Moscow's report was "incomplete".

All those on board the TU-154 Tupolev, who included officials spanning the country's military and political elite, were killed when their airliner crashed while trying to land in heavy fog.

They had been on their way to a memorial for the victims of Katyn, where 20,000 Polish officers were massacred by Soviet forces in 1940.

'Erroneous information'

The report by Warsaw said the pilot had lacked experience in landing aircraft in adverse weather conditions, and the crew was not adequately equipped.

It also found that airport lighting was "defective and incomplete", while a landing zone official had given "erroneous information" to the crew as they prepared to land in poor weather at the Russian city of Smolensk.

Air traffic controllers misinformed the crew about their true altitude during the approach and gave a crucial warning too late, it said.

In its report earlier this year, Russia had said the crash was due to pilot error and said the crew had taken unjustified risks under pressure from their superiors.

However, the Polish report said there was no evidence that Lech Kaczynski or anyone else on board had put pressure on the pilots to act against their wishes.

An official with the Russian committee which investigates air disasters said "the fundamental part" of the conclusions in the Polish report agreed with his own committee's findings.

But the official, Alexei Morozov, said they could not understand the Polish finding that the flight's crew was not influenced by senior officials in the cockpit.

Russia's handling of the disaster had originally been widely commended, but the issue later became a source of contention between the two nations.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had accepted the resignation of Mr Klich in the wake of the report's criticism of the crew.

Tomasz Siemoniak, a deputy interior minister, has replaced Mr Klich, Mr Tusk told reporters.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of the late president and opposition politician, has previously accused Mr Tusk's government of a cover-up with Moscow. Mr Tusk strongly denies the claims.

Poland's first couple - along with other leading political and military figures - had been on their way to a memorial ceremony for the World War II Katyn massacre when the crash took place on 10 April. There were no survivors.

 

Air France Rio crash: Pilots 'lacked training'

 

 

The pilots of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 lacked adequate training, French investigators have found.

France's BEA authority said pilots had failed to discuss repeated stall warnings and did not have the training to deal with the hazard. Air France rejected the accusation.

BEA called for mandatory training in high-altitude stalling for all pilots.

All 228 people on board the Airbus 330 from Brazil to France were killed.

'No passenger alert'

BEA head Jean-Paul Troadec said that "the situation was salvageable" during the flight's final minutes.

Investigators said an account of those minutes, captured on flight recorders, concluded that the crew had failed to "formally identify the loss of altitude" despite an alarm ringing for nearly a minute.

"The first event which triggered it all is the disconnection of the automatic pilot following the loss of the speed indicators, very probably after they were frozen by ice crystals," said Mr Troadec.

"At this time the pilot should have initiated a procedure known as 'Unreliable IAS (indicated air speed)', a procedure which consists of taking an angle of five degrees, but the angle they took was far superior.

"That is why the plane flew upwards, the plane took a rapid vertical flight of 7,000 feet/minute... The angle they took was too much," Mr Troadec said.

The BEA report said the co-pilots in charge of the plane when the emergency began "had received no high-altitude training for unreliable IAS (indicated air speed) procedure and manual air craft handling".

The report also said that the pilots failed to alert passengers to the crisis as they struggled to regain control.

The authority issued 10 new safety recommendations, including mandatory training for all pilots in France to ensure they could handle a high-altitude stall.

A statement from Air France rejected the BEA's findings, saying that "nothing at this stage can allow the crew's technical competence to be blamed" for the crash.

"The crew on duty showed professionalism and stayed committed until the end to operating the flight. Air France salutes their courage and determination in these extreme conditions," it said.

 

Flight recorders were found this year

"The altitude-loss alarm was activated and deactivated several times, contradicting the real status of the aircraft, which contributed strongly to the crew's difficulty in analysing the situation," Air France said.

Airbus said it welcomed the report and would give full support to the process, so that the industry could "benefit from any lessons to be learnt from this event".

Air France and Airbus are being investigated for alleged manslaughter in connection with the crash.

"The BEA establishes the facts and makes recommendations based on those facts," AFP quoted Environment and Transport Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet as saying on RTL radio.

"As to who is responsible, that is up to the courts," she added.

Flight AF 447 went down on 1 June 2009 after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours into a flight from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris.

The wreckage of the plane was discovered after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

 

Zapatero calls early Spain election amid economic woes

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has called a general election for November, four months earlier than expected.

He said this would enable a new government to confront Spain's economic problems from January.

Hours earlier, a credit rating agency warned it might downgrade Spain's rating due to weak growth prospects.

The opposition has demanded an early vote since May, when Mr Zapatero's Socialist Party lost in local polls.

"Early elections are what the majority of the electorate wanted, so this is good news," said Mariano Rajoy, the candidate of the main opposition Popular Party.

Continue reading the main story

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I want a new government to take control of the economy from 1 January next year... fresh from the balloting”

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Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

• Eurozone in crisis graphics

It argues that a change of government is the only way to recover market confidence in the country.

Mr Zapatero will not be seeking a third term as prime minister, and opinion polls suggest his Socialist Party - led by former Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba - will lose.

Economic recovery?

The government's borrowing costs have risen in recent weeks, despite agreement on a second EU bailout package for Greece, reflecting the fact that investors still worry about the weak state of Spain's economy, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid.

Mr Zapatero said he was calling an early election - now set for 20 November - in order to "project political and economic certainty" over the months to come.

"I want a new government to take control of the economy from 1 January next year... fresh from the balloting."

He made his announcement after a speech in which he stressed that the economy was on the road to recovery, citing seven consecutive quarters of growth, and a recent decline in unemployment.

But 46% of young Spaniards remain out of work - and the overall unemployment rate is twice the European average.

There is concern too over the level of debt in Spain's regions, and the health of the banking sector, our correspondent says.

The international ratings agency, Moody's, has just warned that it is putting Spanish government debt on review, for a possible downgrade from Aa2 to Aa3.

 

Amanda Knox: DNA evidence defended by Italian police

Italian prosecutors have rejected claims that evidence used to convict Amanda Knox of the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher was unreliable.

Knox, 24, and her Italian ex-boyfriend Rafaelle Sollecito, 26, are appealing against their convictions for killing the Surrey student in Perugia in 2007.

On Monday, experts told the court the DNA evidence which helped convict the American could have been contaminated.

But the scientific police director has defended the original forensic work.

In a letter read out to the court, Piero Angeloni described the technology used as being world-class and said the officers were highly experienced.

"Never before" has there been such criticism of his agency, he said.

Patrizia Stefanoni, the police forensic scientist who originally found the DNA on the knife and Miss Kercher's torn bra clasp, has said she will fight the appeal trial experts' accusation that basic errors were made.

'Not reliable'

During proceedings in Perugia, prosecutor Manuela Comodi sought to undermine the independent experts' conclusions and show that the forensic evidence used to convict Knox could stand.

The experts - appointed by the court to review the evidence and procedures used to obtain it - maintain that the original investigation was marked by some glaring errors, the Associated Press reports.

Much of the debate centred on a kitchen knife the prosecutors believe to be the murder weapon.

Continue reading the main story

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We don't know if Meredith's DNA was on it or not”

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Carla Vecchiotti
Forensic specialist

In the first trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox's DNA was found on the knife's handle and Miss Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They also said Sollecito's DNA was found on the clasp of Miss Kercher's bra.

But the appeals court heard that the collection of evidence fell below international standards.

Carla Vecchiotti, a forensic specialist from La Sapienza university, Rome, said it was impossible to say whether the British student's DNA was found on the knife.

"There is a complete genetic profile, but it's not reliable," she said.

"We don't know if Meredith's DNA was on it or not."

Ms Comodi insisted that the genetic profile found on the blade should not be thrown out.

Miss Kercher, a Leeds University student, was living in Italy as part of a year of study abroad when she died.

Knox is serving a 26-year sentence for Miss Kercher's murder while Sollecito, an Italian, was sentenced to 25 years.

Both deny any wrongdoing.

Rudy Guede, 21, was also convicted of Miss Kercher's murder in a separate trial and is serving a 16-year term.

The hearing was adjourned until September.

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger museum opens in Austrian hometown

 

 

Bethany Bell takes a look around the new museum in Arnold Schwarzenegger's childhood home

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Related Stories

• Schwarzenegger makes film return
• Schwarzenegger wife seeks divorce

Arnold Schwarzenegger's childhood home in Austria has opened as a museum.

It came as the former Mr Universe, who went on to be a Hollywood star and governor of California, turned 64.

On display at the museum are his childhood bed, a motorbike from one of the Terminator films, some of his first dumb-bells, and a copy of the desk he used as governor of California.

 

BBC News - Arnold Schwarzenegger museum opens in Austrian hometown

 

Mr Schwarzenegger left the village of Thal, near the city of Graz, in 1966, but has given the project his blessing.

A plaque by the door reads "Arnold Schwarzenegger's Birth House Museum," although one of the locals later told me he was born in a nearby hospital.

He lived with his family in the modest first floor flat from his birth in 1947 until 1966 when he left to pursue his dreams of winning the Mr Universe competition.

Pit toilet

It was a humble beginning. The flat had no electricity and no running water.

The museum shows the house's original pit toilet, and a 1950s kitchen, with a washstand and jugs for collecting water.

In one of the rooms, the star's childhood bed is on display. "This is where he first started to dream of success," the curator, Peter Urdl told me.

It was while he was living in Thal, that he first started pumping iron.

 

Schwarzenegger found early success as a bodybuilder

As well as trophies and photographs from his early days of bodybuilding, the museum also has some of his first dumb-bells.

And it has his original home work-out machine, a pulley with weights attached which hung in a door frame inside the flat.

The museum charts his obsessive training routine and describes how his success at bodybuilding led him eventually to Hollywood.

And it has a collection of Schwarzenegger movie memorabilia, including a Harley Davidson motorbike from one of the Terminator films and a sword from Conan the Barbarian.

Continue reading the main story

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He was a little farm boy and his career was so exciting... I think the Austrian people are really proud”

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Helga Forstner
Museum co-ordinator

Visitors to the museum can pose next to a life-size model of Arnie as the Terminator.

Controversy

The museum also has a section dedicated to his time as governor of California, including a facsimile of his desk.

Although he lives half a world away, Schwarzenegger's exploits are closely followed in Austria.

A number of his policies as governor were controversial here, including his support for the death penalty.

His name was taken off a stadium in the neighbouring town of Graz in 2005, when he rejected pleas to spare the life of a California gang leader.

 

The museum bills itself as the world's only Schwarzenegger museum

But while Austrians are not always comfortable with his politics, many of them are nonetheless fascinated.

"He was a little farm boy and his career was so exciting and so special and I think the Austrian people are really proud," Helga Forstner, the museum co-ordinator told me.

"He always comes to visit Thal when he is in Austria," she said. "He came here on 21 June and he was really excited about the exhibits."

Thal continued to play a role in his life, years after he left home. One photograph shows the rowing boat in which he proposed to his now estranged wife, Maria Shriver, on a nearby lake.

But the exhibition does not touch on her recent filing for divorce. Mr Schwarzenegger recently admitted fathering a child with the couple's long-time housekeeper.

 

Zara Phillips wedding: Ceremony at Edinburgh church

The Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips has married England rugby player Mike Tindall at a ceremony in Edinburgh.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were among those at the wedding in Canongate Kirk on a sunny Royal Mile.

Hundreds of well-wishers lined the streets for Scotland's first royal wedding in almost 20 years.

Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Catherine, and Prince Harry were also attending the ceremony and reception at Holyroodhouse.

The Reverend Neil Gardner welcomed guests up the Royal Mile, including the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

The bride's dress, an ivory silk and satin gown, was designed by Stewart Parvin, one of the Queen's favourite couturiers. This was accompanied by a veil, tiara and Jimmy Choo shoes.

 

BBC News - Zara Phillips wedding: Ceremony at Edinburgh church

 

The doors of the Canongate Kirk were closed to the press and public, but hundreds of well-wishers gathered in Edinburgh's Old Town to watch the arrival and departure of the Royal Family.

After the ceremony the couple emerged arm-in-arm, stood on the steps to the entrance to the 17 Century kirk and shared a kiss.

The newlyweds arrived back at the palace as the Royal Scots Association pipe band played.

Among the crowds who turned out for the day was Jackie Rushton, 48, from Yorkshire, who told BBC Scotland: "I just love anything to do with the Royal Family, I'm a big fan, I have great respect for them."

Another well-wisher, Margaret Kittle, 76, travelled from Winona in Canada to see the wedding.

She said: "I've come to all the royal weddings since Princess Anne and Mark Phillips' wedding.

"I like to come to the weddings and all the royal occasions that I can, because the Queen is queen of Canada."

 

BBC News - Norway attacks: Breivik 'had other targets'

The man who admitted the bomb and gun attacks which rocked Norway has said under interrogation he had other targets, police say.

Anders Behring Breivik was questioned for 10 hours on Friday to verify details from previous sessions and answer new points.

Police would not confirm reports that he had also wanted to attack the palace and Labour Party headquarters.

Funerals have begun for the 77 people killed in the attacks.

Mr Breivik, an anti-Muslim extremist who blamed Labour for increased immigration, is believed to have single-handedly shot dead 69 people at a party summer camp on the island of Utoeya, hours after killing eight with a car bomb near government buildings in central Oslo.

The attacks on Friday 22 July traumatised Norway, one of the most politically stable and tolerant states in Europe.

'Several projects of different scale'

Police lawyer Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said the suspect had talked about other targets.

"In general, I would say that he had in his plans other targets but on this day it was only these two which were successful," he told reporters on Saturday.

 

He described Mr Breivik as "more than willing to co-operate... more than willing to explain himself".

Without citing its sources, Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang reported that the suspect had considered attacking the royal palace because of its symbolic value, and Labour HQ because of his loathing for the party.

On Friday, Mr Breivik's lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told Aftenposten newspaper that his client had harboured "several projects of different scale for that Friday".

"Things happened that day, which I don't want to go into, which meant events unfolded differently from what he had planned," he added.

He said his client continued to show no remorse, saying the killings were "a necessary act... a war against the rule by Muslims".

Police are believed to have been checking targets identified by Mr Breivik in his manifesto, which outlines both his extremist ideas and details his preparations for attacks.

 

Kenyans donate $200,000 by text for drought victims

Kenyans have donated nearly $200,000 (£122,000) via mobile phone banking for aid to victims of the worst drought in the region in 60 years.

The BBC's Noel Mwakugu in the capital, Nairobi, says the money has been raised in the first 12 hours of an appeal launched by leading businesses.

Many people have accused the Kenyan government of handling the food crisis badly, he says.

But the government insists it is doing its best to help drought victims.

The appeal - involving mobile phone company Safaricom, Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper and Kenya Commercial Bank - is intended to raise $5.4m.

The companies have urged the public to do a text transfer of at least 10 US cents into a special bank account.

"No amount is too small to give," Safaricom head Bob Collymore said.

Kenya has about 20 million mobile-phone users - about half the population.

Pastoralists threatened

The money will be administered by the Kenya Red Cross Society to help people worst affected by the drought, our reporter says.

More than four million Kenyans - many of them pastoralists in the north - are threatened by starvation.

On Wednesday, Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the government had spent $110m on food and other aid to curb hunger.

But many Kenyans are angry with the government, believing it has been slow in rallying aid, our reporter says.

Mr Odinga said the government had also given pastoralists livestock feed to prevent more of their animals from dying.

The drought is affecting more than 10 million in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia.

Somalia is hardest hit, with the UN declaring a famine in its Lower Shabelle and Bakool regions.

 

Vietnam: Army 'colluding' in Laos deforestation

 

 

An international lobbying group has accused the Vietnamese army of involvement in the illegal export of timber from neighbouring Laos.

The Environmental Investigation Agency says the multi-million-dollar trade is causing the rapid disappearance of some of the region's last tropical forest.

A Vietnamese military-owned company named in the report said it acted in full compliance with the laws of Laos.

The timber is processed in Vietnam into furniture with much exported to Europe.

The new EIA report comes at a time when the European Union is drafting new legislation to try to tighten regulation of the timber trade.

'Full compliance'

Working undercover, the EIA said it had discovered that laws banning the export of raw timber from Laos were being routinely and openly flouted.

Most of the logs are being sent over the border to feed Vietnam's booming wood processing industry and to make furniture, much of which ends up in Europe and the US.

The lobbying group traced logs from virgin tropical forest in Laos to a Vietnamese company owned by the military.

Speaking to the BBC, the cited company rejected the accusations made against it, saying it was in full compliance with the laws of Laos.

But the EIA says the trade is illegal and the only beneficiaries are corrupt government officials and well-connected businessmen.

Some of the wood comes from areas being cleared to build hydroelectric dams - part of an ambitious Laotian project to become a major supplier of electricity to the wider Mekong region.

 

Millions hit in South Korean hack

South Korea has blamed Chinese hackers for stealing data from 35 million accounts on a popular social network.

The attacks were directed at the Cyworld website as well as the Nate web portal, both run by SK Communications.

Hackers are believed to have stolen phone numbers, email addresses, names and encrypted information about the sites' many millions of members.

It follows a series of recent cyber attacks directed at South Korea's government and financial firms.

Details of the breach were revealed by the Korean Communications Commission.

It claimed to have traced the source of the incursion back to computer IP addresses based in China.

Wave of attacks

The Nate portal gives people access to web services such as email while the Cyworld social site lets people share images and updates with friends and allows them to create an avatar that inhabits a small virtual apartment.

Like many other nations, South Korea has suffered a spate of hacking attacks in recent months. One incident in April targeted a government-backed bank.

A month later, data on more than 1.8 million customers was stolen from Hyundai Capital.

Government ministries, the National Assembly, the country's military HQ and networks of US Forces based in Korea were also hit.

Earlier this year, the South Korean government drew up a cyber security plan in an attempt to thwart the attackers.

 

Baseball pitcher Hideki Irabu dies, aged 42

Baseball pitcher Hideki Irabu, who played on two World Series championship teams and was one of the first Japanese players in US baseball, has died at 42.

Irabu's death at his home near Los Angeles was being investigated as a suicide, police said.

Beginning in 1997 he pitched six seasons in the Major Leagues, including three with the New York Yankees.

He had a career record of 34 wins and 35 losses in 80 starts, and retired from Major League baseball in 2002

Born in Hyogo, Japan, Irabu was a hard-throwing right hander for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Japanese Pacific league, when his contract was purchased by the San Diego Padres baseball team in 1997.

He said he would only play for the New York Yankees, and the San Diego club traded him. The Yankees signed him to a four-year, $12.8m (£7.83m) deal.

After a brief stint on a Yankees minor league team, he joined the Yankee's starting pitching rotation in the 1997 team. He was a starting pitcher on the Yankees' 1998 and 1999 World Series championship teams.

In 1999, Irabu angered the famously irascible Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who disparaged him about his weight and called him a fat toad.

In 2009, Irabu said he hoped to return to Japanese baseball.

 

North Korea nuclear talks business-like, says US

The US says a first day of talks on North Korea's nuclear programme had been "serious and business-like".

The talks between US North Korea envoy Stephen Bosworth and North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan are to continue on Friday in New York.

US officials stress that the talks are "exploratory", aimed at gauging whether North Korea is serious about resuming negotiations that ended in 2008.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

"Today's discussions have been serious and business-like," a US statement said after Thursday's talks. "We look forward to continuing our meetings tomorrow."

Mr Kim said: "The atmosphere was good, the meeting was constructive and interesting. We exchanged views on general issues."

The US wants North Korea to fulfil commitments it signed up to in a 2005 document, which provided for North Korea to end its nuclear programme in return for energy and economic aid.

"We're quite clear, broadly, on what we're looking for, which is for North Korea to live up to its commitments," said state department spokesman Mark Toner.

"It needs to take concrete steps toward denuclearisation."

Six party talks involving North and South Korea, the US, Russia, China and Japan were last held at the end of 2008.

In a surprise move, North Korean officials met their counterparts from the South last week on the sidelines of a security conference in Indonesia.

Tensions between the Koreas increased last year after two attacks that left 50 South Koreans dead.

 

Australia probes self-harm by asylum seekers

 

 

Australian officials have announced an investigation into rising rates of self-harm and suicide attempts by asylum seekers in detention centres.

Allan Asher, who heads a government watchdog body, said official data indicated there was a problem.

There were more than 1,100 actual or threatened self-harm incidents in the past year, government figures show.

The UN has criticised Australia's policy of detaining all asylum seekers while their applications are processed.

Mr Asher said he had spent a week at the Christmas Island detention centre in June, and there had been 30 incidents of self-harm during that time.

"We then heard that in the first week in July there were 50 in all the places of detention and it just tells us there is something wrong and it needs to be looked at," he told ABC television.

Mr Asher said the inquiry would examine the root causes, and consider practical steps that can be taken to identify and manage those at risk of suicide and self-harm.

His report is due by the end of the year.

The immigration spokeswoman from the Australian Greens, Sarah Hanson-Young, said it would add weight to earlier assessments by the UN Human Rights High Commissioner and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

"We know the policy of mandatory detention, in place since 1992, has ruined many people, some of whom have taken their lives, harmed themselves and are still recovering from trauma years after being accepted as refugees," she said.

Earlier this week, Australian and Malaysian officials signed a controversial deal intended to stem the flow of asylum seekers travelling to Australia by boat.

The deal allows Australia to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia. In return, Australia will take 4,000 refugees from Malaysia over the next four years.

 

Malaysian FA apologises to Benayoun over racist abuse

 

 

Malaysia's football federation has apologised after Chelsea complained that Yossi Benayoun had suffered racist abuse during last week's friendly.

The Football Association of Malaysia said "if such an incident did happen, we would like to apologise to the player... and also to Chelsea FC."

Chelsea responded on Friday, saying "the matter is now closed".

Benayoun is one of the few Israelis to have played in Malaysia, a country which does not recognise Israel.

The 31-year-old Benayoun was jeered each time he touched the ball in a match against a Malaysian XI on 21 July. Agency reports from the match in Kuala Lumpur said the abuse was directed at Benayoun.

The Malaysian FA, however, said the abuse would have "involved a small section of spectators".

In reply to the MFA's statment, Chelsea said: "We appreciate the prompt ttention the Malaysian FA has given our complaint.

"Chelsea Football Club is committed to eradicating all discriminatory behaviour from the game and urges the MFA to take appropriate steps to stamp out this type of behaviour in future.

"The club and Yossi accept the apology."

Chelsea have one more match left on their Asian tour - against Aston Villa in Hong Kong on 30 July - before they return to England.

Anti-racism campaigners Kick It Out have called for Malaysia's football authorities to look at the issue of anti-semitic prejudice.

A spokesman for the group said: "Kick It Out supports the action taken by Chelsea on this matter.

"After working with the club on the recent 'Y-Word' film, aimed squarely at challenging anti-semitism and anti-Jewish abuse and featuring Frank Lampard, it's a strand of discrimination which is front of mind for both organisations.

"In addition, the campaign is keen to engage with Malaysian authorities around the issue and how football can play its part in educating mass audiences to become better versed on issues around faith and religion."

 

China state media agency Xinhua criticises US on debt

China's state-run media have labelled US domestic politicians "dangerously irresponsible" for wrangling over debt.

In an editorial, Xinhua news agency accused US politicians of playing a "game of chicken" over the issue, saying the rest of the world had been "kidnapped" by American politics.

Beijing has not officially commented on the US battle to avoid a debt default.

The US Congress needs to agree on raising its borrowing limit by next Tuesday or it will default on its debt.

Although most Democrats and Republicans broadly agree on raising the debt ceiling and reducing public spending, the sticking point is the length of time the higher debt limit is in place.

The Democrats want the higher ceiling to remain until after next year's presidential election, but Republicans will agree only to a short-term measure.

Liquidity 'flood'

The Xinhua editorial said many other countries would be in the "impact zone" if US politicians failed to agree a deal.

"With leadership comes responsibility. It is unfortunate and disappointing that when political leaders in Washington spar over who is doing good for their country, they take little account of the world's economic soundness," the article said.

"Given the United States' status as the world's largest economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, such political brinkmanship in Washington is dangerously irresponsible.

"It risks, among other consequences, strangling the still fragile economic recovery of not only the United States but also the world as a whole."

The mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, the People's Daily, also warned of the consequences of a default.

In comments translated by the AFP news agency, the paper said a default could hurt the US dollar and trigger a "torrential flood" of liquidity into the global economy, fuelling inflation in emerging economies such as China.

 

Mongolian spy chief can be extradited to Germany

A Mongolian spy chief - who claims he was tricked into coming to the UK so he could be arrested - can be extradited, the High Court has said.

In February, District Judge Quentin Purdy, at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, ruled Bat Khurts should be sent to Germany.

Mr Bat, 41, is wanted for kidnapping a Mongolian national suspected of murdering a government official.

His appeal was rejected by the High Court on Friday.

The Mongolian government said it was "very disappointed" with the judgment.

It declined to appeal to the Supreme Court but said it would be "taking this matter to the International Court of Justice".

At the earlier hearing Mr Bat's lawyer claimed he was lured to the UK by the Foreign Office, on the pretence of attending high-level government talks on intelligence co-operation, so he could be arrested and extradited to Germany.

Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Foskett dismissed his appeal but his lawyers said the case may now be taken to the European Court of Human Rights.

'No evidence of luring'

Lord Justice Moses said Mr Bat "has not established that he was lured into this country".

He said: "Far from being lured, at every stage when the government of Mongolia, particularly through its ambassador, attempted to arrange meetings, they were rebuffed."

Lord Justice Moses said they rejected the allegation that Mr Bat was tricked into coming to Britain and said there was "no question of any official in the United Kingdom luring the appellant to this country in the belief that he was going to meet United Kingdom officials to discuss security matters".

Mr Bat was allegedly involved in the 2003 kidnap of Enkhbat Damiran, who was taken from France to Berlin, drugged and flown to the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator.

Mr Enkhbat was wanted in connection with the murder of Mongolia's Infrastructure Minister Zorig Sanjasuuren in 1998.

At the hearing earlier this year his lawyer, Alun Jones QC, claimed Mr Bat, head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, should not have been detained at Heathrow Airport in September because he was covered by diplomatic immunity.

He said Mr Bat had been granted a business visa for a visit during which he was supposed to meet Britain's National Security Adviser, Sir Peter Ricketts, and strategy and counter-terrorism director, William Nye.

Judge Purdy said he believed Mr Bat was invited for genuine security talks but the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) had heard about it and were aware of the outstanding warrant from Germany.

 

South Korea rain deluge hits weapons dumps

 

Torrential rain in South Korea has caused landslides and floods, and hit arms dumps in the north of the country.

Military officials said all weapons had been recovered after an arms depot in Yangju, near the northern border, was hit by a mudslide.

But soldiers were still searching for about 10 landmines they fear may have been washed away near Seoul.

The country has been hit by the most intense downpour for a century, leaving at least 50 people dead.

'Raise the bar'

Blogs and newspaper editorials have been critical of the government - many blaming the country's fast-paced development for denuding tree coverage and worsening the chaos.

President Lee Myung-bak said no country in the world could endure such a downpour.

But he added: "We should raise the bar of safety standards to deal with such natural disasters."

Among the worst single incidents this week, a landslide on Wednesday crushed a hotel at a mountain resort in Chuncheon, east of Seoul, killing 13 people - most of them students.

And 17 people were killed when mud smashed into their homes from a mountain slope in Seoul.

Several arms dumps near the tense border with North Korea were wrecked by landslides.

And there were fears that a small number of landmines planted on a mountain near Seoul during the 1950-53 war with the North had been washed away.

Meanwhile, North Korean state news agency KCNA carried a report saying large areas of the country had been badly hit by flooding.

KCNA reported that thousands of homes and hundreds of factories and public buildings had been destroyed.

The agency said an initial survey showed more than 560 sq km (216 sq miles) of farmland had been flooded.

 

Vietnam shoe plant fire kills 17

At least 17 people have been killed in a fire at a shoe factory in northern Vietnam, police and local media say.

Some 21 other people were injured in the blaze at the plant in the port city of Hai Phong, reports say.

Local media quoted a survivor, Bui Thi Them, as saying sparks from a welding machine had ignited the roof of the building.

Burning material fell from the roof, blocking the exit, Mr Them said, trapping the victims inside.

"The fireball blocked the factory's main entrance and there is no exit on the back," Mr Them told the Thanh Nien newspaper, AFP news agency reported.

"Many people in the middle of the factory which was engulfed with fire and smoke could not escape and were burned to death."

Ten of those killed were women, the Associated Press new agency said.

Thanh Nien was quoted as saying six people, including the factory owner, her husband and a welder, have been detained over the incident.

 

Earthquake jolts north-east Japan - no tsunami warning

 

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake has been felt in north-east Japan, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo, reports say.

The quake's epicentre was off the east coast of Honshu.

It struck in the same area as the 11 March earthquake and tsunami but no abnormalities at Japanese nuclear plants were reported, Reuters says.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami warning was issued.

More than 20,000 people died or were reported missing as a result of the disaster in March, which also crippled nuclear reactors in the Fukushima area.

The quake occurred close to Iwaki, with its centre around 100km (60 miles) south-south-east of Fukushima city.

It occurred at 0354 local time on Sunday (1854 GMT Saturday), at a depth of 44km (27 miles).

 

BBC News - China rail crash families reject compensation offer

 

Relatives of some of those killed in a major train crash in China are refusing to accept an offer of compensation from the government.

The 915,000 yuan ($142,000; £87,000) total is double the initial offer made to the families of the 40 victims.

There has been widespread anger at the official response to the disaster.

The crash happened when one train came to a standstill on a viaduct near the eastern city of Wenzhou, and another ploughed into it.

State media say that 10 families have accepted the compensation offer.

Lawyers warned

Meanwhile local lawyers have been told to report to the authorities any relatives seeking legal advice, AFP news agency reported, citing the official Xinhua agency.

Law firms should not "unauthorisedly respond and handle the cases", because "the accident is a major sensitive issue concerning social stability", the lawyers are said to have been warned in a statement.

 

Four carriages plunged from the viaduct

The crash has provoked much anger against the government, not just for its response, but also over its conduct in pushing for rapid development of high-speed train lines.

Many web users, and even some state-media outlets, have accused officials of putting economic development above the safety of the people.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who visited the crash site on Thursday, vowed to "severely punish" those responsible.

Reports from Hong Kong say the communist party has ordered the media to tone down its coverage.

The Hong Kong Journalists' association said the party's propaganda bureau has told newspapers to focus on positive coverage and stick to comments made by officials.

Flagship project

Officials believe a faulty signal may have caused the crash. Four train carriages fell about 30m (100ft) from the viaduct.

On Friday, about two dozen relatives gathered at the crash site to lay flowers and burn incense.

The accident came four years after the opening of the country's first high-speed railway line - one of the government's flagship projects.

Rail experts had warned against the rush to build the world's longest and fastest high-speed rail network in record time amid safety concerns.

Critics of the government allege that corners were cut during construction because of corruption, raising questions about infrastructure across the country.

 

BBC News - Kenyans donate $200,000 by text for drought victims

Kenyans have donated nearly $200,000 (£122,000) via mobile phone banking for aid to victims of the worst drought in the region in 60 years.

The BBC's Noel Mwakugu in the capital, Nairobi, says the money has been raised in the first 12 hours of an appeal launched by leading businesses.

Many people have accused the Kenyan government of handling the food crisis badly, he says.

But the government insists it is doing its best to help drought victims.

The appeal - involving mobile phone company Safaricom, Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper and Kenya Commercial Bank - is intended to raise $5.4m.

The companies have urged the public to do a text transfer of at least 10 US cents into a special bank account.

"No amount is too small to give," Safaricom head Bob Collymore said.

Kenya has about 20 million mobile-phone users - about half the population.

Pastoralists threatened

The money will be administered by the Kenya Red Cross Society to help people worst affected by the drought, our reporter says.

More than four million Kenyans - many of them pastoralists in the north - are threatened by starvation.

On Wednesday, Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the government had spent $110m on food and other aid to curb hunger.

But many Kenyans are angry with the government, believing it has been slow in rallying aid, our reporter says.

Mr Odinga said the government had also given pastoralists livestock feed to prevent more of their animals from dying.

The drought is affecting more than 10 million in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia.

Somalia is hardest hit, with the UN declaring a famine in its Lower Shabelle and Bakool regions.

 

South Africa's gold miners begin strike over pay

 

Almost 100,000 gold miners have begun an indefinite strike in South Africa calling for a 14% salary increase.

The stoppage could cost the gold mining sector $25m (£15m) a day in lost output, economists say.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) told the BBC it would affect all the top gold producers who are only offering between 7% and 9% pay rises.

The coal and petrol sectors have also been hit by strikes leading to fuel shortages in the last three weeks.

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in the commercial capital, Johannesburg, says this time of the year is known as South Africa's "strike season".

Most unions are demanding salary increases twice that of inflation - which currently stands at 5%.

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Our members work under dangerous conditions... yet they have nothing to show for it”

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Lesiba Seshoka
NUM spokesperson

They argue that any reasonable increase in wages needs to be 11% to counteract price hikes in food, water, electricity and petrol over the past year.

NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said workers would down tools indefintely from the start of the night shift on Thursday at 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) in all gold mines, including AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold.

"Our members work under dangerous conditions in the mines daily and yet they have nothing to show for it," Mr Seshoka told the BBC.

The average mine worker earns 3,800 South African rand ($570; £346) each month, according to NUM.

For decades gold mining was the backbone of South Africa's economy, but gold output has decreased in recent years.

Until 2007 the country was the world's largest gold producer, now it is fourth.

The decline has been attributed partly to an increase in labour costs.

According to the most recent World Economic Forum report on Global Competitiveness, South Africa had the eighth-highest level of industrial conflict of out of 139 countries.

A public sector strike over pay paralysed schools and hospitals for more than a month last year.

 

BBC News - Zimbabwe's plans to import US cents to help shops

Zimbabwe hopes to import US currency coins because shops are often unable to give customers change, the finance minister says.

Zimbabwe allowed trade in the US currency in 2009 after hyperinflation made its money worthless.

US dollar notes are easily available, but there is an acute shortage of cents, the BBC's Brian Hungwe in the capital, Harare, says.

Shops often barter sweets for change, he says.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Zimbabwe's bankers were in talks with US authorities to "import" coins.

"Efforts to import small dollar coins to ease the small change problem are continuing," Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper quotes him as saying.

"It is envisaged that the coins will be available before the end of the year," he said.

Our reporter says there has always been a shortage of US cents, causing frustration among Zimbabweans.

Often customers feel short-changed when buying goods, as they are forced to take other items - such as sweets - or run up credit with the shop, he says.

Zimbabwe also allows trade in South Africa's rand and Botswana's pula, but people prefer using the US dollar, our reporter says.

Mr Biti opened the economy to foreign currencies after he became the finance minister in 2009 in the power-sharing government formed to end the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

The move helped to stop the economic free-fall in Zimbabwe, where at one stage a Z$100 trillion note was issued.

The crisis was triggered by years of conflict and economic mismanagement, blamed on President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party.

Mr Mugabe agreed to a power-sharing government with his bitter rival Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change party following elections marred by violence in 2008.