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'Cot death risk' to small babies

Parents of underweight babies must be given more information on reducing the risk of cot death, says a charity.

Indian PM: Anti-corruption protest 'misconceived'

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told parliament that the hunger strike by anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare is "totally misconceived".

Nigeria launches two satellites

Nigeria has successfully launched two Earth observation satellites which could be used to monitor weather in a region seasonally ravaged by disasters.

Kew launches native flowers project at Wakehurst Place

Experts at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank have begun a project to create seed stocks to help restore native plants to the UK countryside.

Bill Nighy movie to wrap up Toronto Film Festival

British spy tale Page Eight, starring Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz, will close next month's Toronto International Film Festival, it has been announced.

Showing posts with label International. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International. Show all posts

Friday, 24 June 2011

US House of Representatives votes against US Libya role

The US House of Representatives has voted against a resolution giving President Barack Obama authority to order US operations in Libya.
The Republican-dominated House voted it down by 295 votes to 123. Analysts say it is largely a symbolic protest.
US backing for the Nato operation in Libya has drawn criticism from many in Congress in recent weeks.
They say the three month-old military operation is in breach of legislation requiring the backing of Congress.

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Libya UK operations cost £250m so far - sources


The cost of UK military operations in Libya has reached £250 million so far, government sources say.

Details are expected to be announced in a written ministerial statement on Thursday.

Last week, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said it could run "into the hundreds of millions" of pounds.

The UK has been contributing to Nato's operation in Libya to enforce a no-fly zone since 19 March. The government had said it would cost tens of millions.

When military strikes against Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces began, Chancellor George Osborne estimated that the cost of British involvement would be "in the order of tens of millions of pounds, not hundreds of millions".

Thursday, 16 June 2011

Pakistan arrests CIA informants in Bin Laden raid BBC online


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Pakistan has arrested five alleged CIA informants who helped the US plan the raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in northern Pakistan in May.
Among those held by the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, was the owner of a safe house rented to the CIA to watch Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, the New York Times wrote.
The Bin Laden raid strained ties between the US and Pakistan.
US President Barack Obama said "someone" was protecting Bin Laden.
And US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on a recent visit to Pakistan that there was "absolutely no evidence that anyone at the highest level of the Pakistani government" knew where Bin Laden was.
Pakistan has denied knowing Bin Laden's whereabouts and denied claims that a Pakistani army major was among those arrested.
'Interrogated' In Pakistan, Inter Services Public Relations spokesman Brigadier Azmat Abbas told the BBC no Pakistani soldier had been arrested, but the agency was questioning "several people whom we suspect of having been working for American intelligence services".
He said that among those arrested were people "captured during a raid at a house located close to the Bin Laden compound".
"We suspect them of having been working for CIA," he said.
"Others being interrogated include people who used to visit the compound."
Brig Abbas said that two categories of people were among those arrested - those who threw flares into the Bin Laden compound to guide approaching US helicopters and those who helped the helicopters refuel within Pakistani territory.
In Washington, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was asked indirectly about the arrests during a Senate hearing.
"Do they [foreign governments] also arrest the people that help us, when they say they're allies?" Senator Patrick Leahy asked.
"Sometimes," Me Gates replied, adding, "and sometimes they send people to spy on us, and they're our close allies. That's the real world that we deal with."
Bin Laden courier In the wake of Bin Laden's death many American agents have been forced to leave Pakistan, while Pakistani officials and civilians suspected of helping the CIA may soon appear in court.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says dozens of people have been arrested and released by the security agencies since the death of the al-Qaeda leader - and at least five of them have not yet been released.
Our correspondent says that the Pakistani authorities appear to be making every effort to unearth CIA informants while showing little interest in arresting Taliban and al-Qaeda sympathisers.
Soon after the killing on 2 May, witnesses told the BBC that two brothers - both cousins of Bin Laden's courier - were picked up from their village in the north-western Shangla district.
A member of the security forces was also picked up from the Ilyasi Masjid area near the Bin Laden compound in Abbottabad, according to witnesses. It is not known whether he belonged to the intelligence wing of the police or the army. He remains unaccounted for to date.
The contractor who built the Bin Laden compound, Noor Mohammad alias Gul Madah, a property dealer identified by witnesses as Kaleem, Bin Laden's neighbour Shamrez and his father Zain Mohammad were arrested in the weeks following the killing.
All of them - apart from Kaleem - were later released although they have subsequently gone missing, our correspondent adds.
It is not clear whether these men were among the alleged CIA informants arrested.
The New York Times said those held included a major believed to have logged the number plates of cars visiting Bin Laden's compound in the weeks before the raid.
The US has sharply reduced its troop presence in Pakistan at Islamabad's request.
Washington has provided Pakistan with billions of dollars of aid in recent years, much of it military assistance.
Islamabad has also been angered by US drone raids on tribal regions bordering Afghanistan in which civilians, as well as militants, have been killed.

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Syrian troops 'widening' crackdown Kill 6 civilians in Ariha

Syrian security forces are reportedly widening an operation in the north of the country aimed at cracking down on anti-government protests.
Troops pushed towards the northern town of Maarat al-Numaan after detaining hundreds of people in a sweep through villages near the town of Jisr al-Shughur, the Reuters news agency reported, citing residents who fled the area, reports Aljazeera.
Meanwhile, army killed six civilians yesterday as it swept through villages around the flashpoint northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughur, a rights activist said.
"The armed forces are continuing their operations and the sweep of the villages near Jisr al-Shughur," which the army took by force Sunday, the activist said, reports AFP.
Refugees have poured across the Syrian border into neighbouring Turkey to escape the government's operation, the site of an intense military takeover on Sunday.
Nearly 7,000 Syrians have so far crossed the border with Turkey to escape the violence, and an estimated 10,000 more are waiting for the opportunity to cross.
Witnesses said those still in Syria had taken shelter among trees near the border since forces moved into the northwestern province of Idlib.
The uprising, now in its third month, seeks an end to Bashar al-Assad's one-party rule, more political freedom and an end to corruption and poverty.
Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, in Guvecci on the Turkey-Syria border, spoke to Syrian refugees inside the camp in Turkey.
One of them said he saw two military helicopters hovering over Jisr al-Shughur and heard reports of indiscriminate shooting.
Another Syrian gave this account after Al Jazeera smuggled a camera into the refugee camp: "We were besieged in Jisr yesterday.
"We couldn't leave. They shot at everyone, I was shot in the chest, My cousin, who was with me, died.
"They cut our electricity and water. We were left with nothing, that is why we came to the Turkey border."
Syrian state television said army units fought "armed groups" on Sunday, but residents and activists said troops had clashed with mutinous soldiers defending the town alongside residents.
"Army divisions entered Jisr al-Shughur and purged the state hospital of armed groups," the television said.
"Two members of the armed organisations were killed, large numbers of them arrested, and lethal weapons in their possession were seized."
On the diplomatic front, a spokesman for David Cameron, the British prime minister, said on Monday that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish leader, had expressed support for Britain's efforts to put pressure on Syria at the UN Security Council.