පණිවුඩය

DNA සැත්කමකින් කලලයක රෝග සුව කිරීම

2017-12-06T01:10:00.000-08:00

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ලොව ප්‍රථම වරට මිනිස් කලලයක් සඳහා සිදු කරන ලද "රසායනික සැත්කමකින්" ඉතා සාර්ථකව රෝගයක් සුව කරන ලද බව චීන විද්‍යාඥයන් කණ්ඩායමක් බීබීසී යට පැවසූහ.

'Base editing' නම් තාක්ෂණය යොදා ගෙන මිනිස් DNA අණුවල "අකුරු" බිලියන තුනක තිබෙන එක් වැරැද්දක් නිවැරදි කිරීමට තමන්ට හැකි වූ බව ද චීනයේ ගුවන්ෂු (Guangzhou) පළාතේ සුන් යැට් සෙන් (Sun Yat-sen) විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ පර්යේෂකයෝ පවසති.

විද්‍යාගාරයේ නිර්මාණය කරන ලද කලලයක 'බීටා තැලසීමියා' රෝගය සුව කිරීම පිණිස එම ක්‍රමය මගින් කලලයේ DNA අණුව වෙනස් කර තිබේ. රෝගය සුව කරන ලද නමුත් එම කලලය ගර්භාෂයක තැන්පත් කර නැත.

සිය සොයා ගැනීම, අනාගතයේ කිසියම් දිනෙක ප්‍රවේනිගත රෝග සුව කිරීමට ඉවහල් වනු ඇතැයි ඔවුහු බලාපොරොත්තු පළ කරති.

'Base editing' තාක්ෂණය මගින් සිදු කරනු ලබන්නේ DNA අණුවල මූලික සැකසුම වෙනස් කිරීමය.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

ජීවිත හානි සිදු විය හැකි 'බීටා තැලසීමියා' රෝගය හටගන්නේ DNAඅණුවල ජාන සැකසුම් හතරෙන් එකක පදනම වෙනස්වීම මගිනි.

උපුටා ගැනීම බීබීසී සිංහල වෙබ් අඩවිය

සම්පූර්ණ වාර්තාව කියවන්න

India seeks action over UAE boat shooting

2012-07-17T03:16:00.001-07:00

UAE asked to investigate incident in which one Indian fisherman was killed by US navy ship in waters off Dubai.

Sailors aboard the USNS Rappahannock opened fire on the boat "after it ignored warnings" [Reuters]

India has called on the United Arab Emirates to investigate the fatal shooting of an Indian fisherman by a US navy ship in waters off Dubai, the Indian foreign ministry has confirmed.
"India's ambassador in Abu Dhabi has requested UAE authorities to probe the circumstances of the tragic incident," the foreign ministry's spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri reporting from Delhi says: "The Indian authorities are pressing the UAE to charge those who are reponsible, this is fast becoming a diplomatic problem for India, the UAE and the US."
An Indian fisherman was killed and three people wounded as their boat was shot at off the coast of Dubai in the southern Gulf.
"The firing has led to the death of one Indian national and serious injury of three Indian nationals,"

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Pakistanis stage new protest over NATO route

2012-07-17T02:38:00.005-07:00

Pakistan and the US reached a deal to reopen land routes that NATO uses to supply its troops [Reuters]

Thousands of people in northwest Pakistan have protested against the reopening of NATO supply routes into Afghanistan and are planning to turn the protest into a march.
The march, organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami political party, a leading member of the Defence of Pakistan coalition of right wing and Islamist groups, began on Monday in the city of Peshawar.
Demonstrators said they would spend the night at the park in Peshawar near a highway used by NATO trucks supplying foreign forces in Afghanistan.
Between 5,000 and 8,000 party activists had reached the site by the evening, police said.
A spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami said 50,000 people would join the protest from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the nearby town of Jamrud, close to the Afghan border.
Pakistan reopened overland routes to NATO convoys crossing into....

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Dozens of MPs quit Japan party over tax rise

2012-07-02T01:17:00.002-07:00

More than 50 members of ruling Democratic Party resign in protest over government's controversial sales tax increase.

Democrat heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa is set to leave, with analysts saying his power is waning [AFP]

Less than a week after Yoshihiko Noda, Japan's prime minister, won approval for a controversial sales tax increase, 52 politicians have decided to quit his governing party in protest.
Forty lower house members and 12 upper house members will resign, including political heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa, though the government will keep a slim majority in the powerful lower house, an aide told the Reuters news agency on Monday.
The defection would leave the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) with just 249 members in the 480-member lower house of parliament.
The departure of Ozawa and his followers means Noda could be in a better position to consolidate his grip on his fractious party, though he will need opposition help to pass laws, since rival parties control the upper house, which can block bills.
The plan to double the sales tax to 10 per cent in three years to curb ballooning public debt was passed by parliament's lower house last week with the help of the opposition.
But 57 politicians from the ruling Democratic Party voted against it, with 15 others abstaining or absent.
Ozawa, a 70-year-old former party leader, has...
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Gunman in Afghan police uniform kills three Nato troops

2012-07-02T01:06:00.000-07:00

A gunman wearing an Afghan police uniform has killed three Nato staff in the south of the country, the coalition has said.

The gunman was injured and later detained, Nato said.

Officials did not confirm the nationalities of the killed service members, or any other details of the incident.

More than 20 foreign personnel have been killed in so-called rogue shootings this year.

Observers say this has eroded morale among foreign forces.

"An individual wearing an Afghan National Civil Order Police uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Force service members in southern Afghanistan today, killing three service members," Isaf, Nato's force in the country, said in a statement on Sunday.

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India tests long-range missile; capable of reaching China

2012-04-18T23:10:00.005-07:00

A scientist at the launch site said the launch was successful, minutes after television images showed the rocket with a range of more than 5,000 km (3,100 miles) blasting through clouds from an island off India's east coast.

"It has met all the mission objectives," S.P.Dash, director of the test range, told Reuters. "It hit the target with very good accuracy."

The Indian-made Agni V is the crowning achievement of a now-mothballed missile program developed primarily with a possible threat from neighboring China in mind.

Only the U.N. Security Council permanent members - China, France, Russia the United States and Britain - along with Israel, are believed to have such long-range weapons.

Fast emerging as a world economic power, India is keen to play a larger role on the global stage and has long angled for a permanent seat on the Security Council. In recent years it has emerged as the world's top arms importer as it rushes to upgrade equipment for a large but outdated military.

"It is one of the ways of signaling India's arrival on the global stage, that India deserves to be sitting at the high table," said Harsh Pant, a defense expert at King's College, London, describing the launch as a "confidence boost".

The launch, which was flagged well in advance, has attracted none of the criticism from the West faced by hermit state North Korea for a failed bid to send up a similar rocket last week.

But China noted the launch with disapproval.

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Syria uprising deaths top 5,000

2011-12-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

More than 5,000 people are thought to have died since the start of the uprising in Syria, the UN's top human rights official has said.

Navi Pillay added that another 14,000 people are believed to have been arrested and 12,400 are thought to have fled to neighbouring countries.

She says the country's government should be referred to the International Criminal Court for its actions in cracking down on protesters, saying they amount to crimes against humanity.

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Politicians and the navy blamed for illegal fishing

2011-12-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

Nearly two thousand fishermen from Kalpitiya peninsular protested today against the use of illegal methods of fishing. They say the use of Dynamite, and triple nets are destroying marine life and their livelihood in the region.


	Protesting fishermen (Photo - Prasad Purnimal)

"From what we hear, high officials of the Navy own some of the boats that use the illegal nets for many years. Politicians and the police are all corrupt. That is why it had not been stopped for over five years." one of the protesters told the BBC.

Roads closed

The protestors cordoned off roads in the area with burned tyres to disrupt the traffic. Police and the army were deployed to contain the demonstrators.


	Police had to call the Army to contain the protest. (Photo - Prasad Purnimal)

Sanath Nishantha, fisheries minister of Wayamba Provincial council, gave an assurance to the protesting fishermen that he will call a meeting of the officials on Tuesday to make arrangements with the Navy and the Police to take necessary steps to stop the usage of illegal methods of fishing,

The practice had continued without the enforcement of the law, due to "certain difficulties some officials had to face", said the minister.

Pakistan NATO blockade to continue

2011-12-12T22:22:00.001-08:00

Prime minister says suspension may remain in place for several weeks, as tensions between Islamabad and US remain high.

The US military has left a Pakistani airbase as tensions with Islamabad continue to remain high [AFP/ISPR HANDOUT]

Pakistan may continue a suspension of NATO supply routes into Afghanistan for several weeks, the country's prime minister has said.

Speaking to the BBC, Yousuf Raza Gilani also refused to rule out closing Pakistani airspace to the US military.

Pakistan suspended the passage of NATO supplies on routes that run through the country into Afghanistan in protest against a strike by NATO forces on Pakistani border posts last month that killed 24 soldiers, an attack the government termed "a deliberate act of aggression".

Gilani said that there was a "credibility gap" in the relationship with the US. His government is currently carrying out a review of Pakistan's "terms of engagement" with Washington.

"[The suspension of supplies] has already entered its 17th day. Hundreds, if not thousands, of containers are parked on the borders, whereas many more are now waiting at the Karachi port," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said.

"The chief minister of Balochistan province is even warning that he wants all these tankers and containers to go back, because they're coming under attack: they're sitting ducks.

"This is indeed a serious crisis, because most of the aviation fuel which is going into Afghanistan is going through strategic corridors, which both go through Pakistan.

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Pakistan PM: No more "business as usual" with U.S.

2011-11-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

(Reuters) - Pakistan's prime minister ruled out "business as usual" with the United States on Monday after a NATO attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and the army threatened to curtail cooperation over the war in Afghanistan.

Saturday's incident on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan has complicated U.S. attempts to ease a crisis in relations with Islamabad and stabilize the region before foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan.

"Business as usual will not be there," Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told CNN when asked if ties with the United States would continue. "We have to have something bigger so as to satisfy my nation."

While the NATO strike has shifted attention from what critics say is Islamabad's failure to go after militants, Gilani's comments reflect the fury of Pakistan's government and military - and the pressure they face from their own people.

"You cannot win any war without the support of the masses," Gilani said. "We need the people with us."

The relationship, he said, would continue only if based on "mutual respect and mutual interest." Asked if Pakistan was receiving that respect, Gilani replied: "At the moment, not."

Farc leader Timochenko new top target in Colombia

2011-11-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

29 November 2011 Last updated at 04:06 GMT Help

The Colombian leader will now be counting on Venezuela to help capture the leader of the Farc guerrillas, Rodrigo Londoño, alias "Timochenko" following the arrest of one of Colombia's most-wanted men, Maximiliano Bonilla Orozco.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, for the arrest.

The news came on a visit to Caracas by President Santos , as he and President Chavez cemented their rapprochement after years of mistrust between the neighbours.

Jeremy McDermott reports from Colombia.

NASA launches new Mars rover

2011-11-27T21:31:00.000-08:00

An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket carrying a $2.5bn NASA Mars probe has lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Mars Science Laboratory, a nuclear-powered rover as big as a compact car and nicknamed Curiosity, is scheduled to touch down on the 'Red Planet' on August 6, 2012, and will search for signs of whether it is or ever was suitable for life.

It is powered by a nuclear-driven electrical system and is equipped with 10 of the most intricate scientific instruments ever sent into space.

Quest for water

Curiosity, has 17 cameras and 10 science instruments, including chemistry labs, to identify elements in soil and rock samples to be dug up by the probe's drill-tipped robotic arm.

The base of the crater's mountain has clays, evidence of a prolonged wet environment, said planetary scientist John
Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology and the mission's lead scientist.

Water is considered to be a key element for life, but not the only one. Previous Mars probes, including the rovers Spirit
and Opportunity, searched for signs of past surface water.

Rice containing radioactive caesium found in Japan

2011-11-16T23:28:00.000-08:00

The rice came from an area outside the exclusion zone around Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

The sample came from a Fukushima city farm about 60km from the plant.

The government is considering banning shipments from the area it was found.

There have been a series of scares over radiation in food in Japan in recent months - in beef, mushrooms and green tea among other products - but never before in the country's staple, rice.

Now caesium in concentrations above the official safety limit has been detected in a sample from a farm in Fukushima city.

The rice was being prepared for market, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said none had been sold.

The discovery highlights the difficulty of tracking the radiation which has been spread across eastern Japan by wind and rain.

Local governments in rural areas have set up testing centres to try to ensure contaminated products do not get into the food chain.

Last week the Tokyo Metropolitan Government also began testing samples bought at shops in the capital in an attempt to further reassure anxious members of the public.

More deaths in Indonesia ship sinking

2011-11-02T00:44:00.000-07:00

An unidentified survivor of Tuesday's sinking carries a child after being brought ashore in Pangandaran town [AFP]

Up to 20 more people are feared dead after an overcrowded wooden ship apparently carrying Australia-bound migrants sank off the coast of Java, according to Australia's immigration minister.

About 70 people were aboard the boat which left the southern Indonesian port of Cilacap early on Tuesday, local police say, and seven have so far been confirmed dead.

"There are around 20 missing and tragically I think we need to brace ourselves that many, if not most or all of those people, will not be rescued alive," Chris Bowen said on Wednesday.

The bodies of seven people including two young boys and three women had been recovered, police said, adding that more were still inside the capsized vessel.

"The dead have been identified as being from Afghanistan and Pakistan. The ones that survived are mostly from Iran," the chief said.

"We have found the location of where the ship capsized. But we haven't turned it. We think there are more dead bodies inside."

Migrant swap cancelled

Last month, Australia's government abandoned a migrant swap deal , the so-called 'Malaysia arrangement', with the Malaysian government because of a parliamentary impasse.

But Bowen said the government remained of the view that the best way to prevent asylum seeker deaths at sea was the now defunct swap agreement.

"All the expert advice to us is that the Malaysia arrangement would break the people smugglers' business model," said Bowen.

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'Head of Mexico's Zetas drug cartel' captured

2011-10-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Police catch the alleged leader of the Zetas drug gang amid more drug-fuelled violence in northern Nuevo Leon region.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon's has led an aggressive army-led crackdown on drug cartels [Reuters]

Mexican forces have captured the alleged leader of the Zetas drug cartel gang after a shoot-out which had left at least nine people dead.

The suspected leader, known as "El Chabelo", was arrested with ten other alleged gang members after several days of co-ordinated police and military operations.

El Chabelo is believed to have been in charge of several cities in the northern Nuevo Leon region.

In a separate development, the Mexican military has freed 61 men being held captive and forced to work for a drug gang in a violent northern border city.

The army said on Sunday that the men were found in a safe house in Piedras Negras on Saturday.

Soldiers made the discovery during a security sweep in the area that also turned up an abandoned truck filled with 6 tons of marijuana.

A statement said one of the captive men is from Honduras, while the others are from various parts of Mexico.

Piedras Negras sits across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, which has been the scene of ongoing battles between drug gangs.

Last week the army arrested a major figure from the Zetas drug cartel there.

The rescue mission comes a day after more violence hit Mexican prisons.

Twenty prisoners died and 12 others were injured on Saturday in a prison on the Mexican-US border town of Matamoros, after a dispute between two inmates turned into a melee that lasted almost three hours.

President criticises opposition

Meanwhile, Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, said on Sunday that politicians in the main opposition party may consider deals with criminals, opening an inflammatory new front in the nation's presidential election campaign.

Calderon's blunt remarks about the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which is favored to win the July 1, 2012 election, are unusual in a country where the president is expected to stay largely aloof from party politics.

Centering on the policy that has dominated his presidency - an aggressive army-led crackdown on drug cartels - his comments risk polarizing opinion on how to restore stability to Mexico, where the drug war has killed 44,000 in five years.

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Renewed clashes in Syria leave many dead

2011-10-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

At least 20 people have been killed in renewed clashes across Syria, as the European Union decided on a new set of sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's government.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that 10 civilians were killed in the town of Banash in the northern province of Idlib when soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stormed the town of Binish and fought battles with gunmen and army deserters.

"The Syrian army backed by tanks and armoured troop carriers launched an assault this morning on the town of Banash and clashes took place with armed men who were apparently dissidents," the rights group said.

The group said that the army also launched an attack on Taum village, in the province's east.

"Several houses were partly destroyed and people were wounded... while the noise of heavy machineguns and explosions could be heard in several parts of the town and ambulances seen racing through the streets."

In the southern province of Deraa, where the six-month wave of protests against Assad first erupted, the group said that six soldiers and two army deserters were killed in a clash in the town of Haara, alongside one civilian.

Another soldier was killed in the central city of Homs.

Ex-fund tycoon Rajaratnam set to hear sentence

2011-10-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

By Grant McCool

(Reuters) - One-time hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam, convicted in the biggest Wall Street insider-trading case in decades, hears his punishment in court on Thursday with all signs pointing to a lengthy prison term.

Rajaratnam, 54, whose Galleon Group managed $7 billion at its peak, could face almost 25 years in prison. His lawyers are asking for a shorter term, arguing he is in poor health and does not deserve a two-decade prison term akin to what a violent offender would receive.

A sentence of 15 years for Rajaratnam may suit the crime and send a warning to others on Wall Street, said St. John's University business professor Anthony Sabino. "The court has to balance he is a first offender, that this is stock fraud, not murder," Sabino said.

A Sri Lankan-born U.S. citizen, Rajaratnam is the central figure in a sweeping insider trading case that touched some of America's top companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Intel Corp, IBM and the elite McKinsey & Co consultancy. It is the biggest insider trading case since the 1980s-era prosecutions of speculator Ivan Boesky and junk-bond financier Michael Milken.

The Galleon founder was arrested in October 2009 after an investigation marked by the most extensive use of secret FBI phone taps in a white collar case. Such tactics usually are reserved for Mafia and drug trafficking investigations.

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Amnesty calls on Canada to arrest George Bush

2011-10-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was reportedly waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 [Reuters]

Amnesty International has called on Canadian authorities to arrest and prosecute George W Bush, saying the former US president authorised torture in the course of the United States' "war on terror".

Bush is expected to attend an economic summit in Surrey in Canada's westernmost British Columbia province on October 20.

The human rights organisation said in a statement released on Wednesday that the Canadian government has "international obligations ... given [Bush's] responsibility for crimes under international law including torture".

The London-based group also released a 27-page memorandum that it had submitted in September to Canada's attorney general laying out its legal case.

"As the US authorities have, so far, failed to bring former president Bush to justice, the international community must step in," said Susan Lee, Amnesty's Americas director, in the statement.

"A failure by Canada to take action during his visit would violate the UN Convention against Torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights."

A spokesman for the Canadian government was not immediately available for comment.

Bush cancelled a visit to Switzerland in February after facing similar public calls for his arrest.

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Libyan NTC claims capture of Gaddafi's son

2011-10-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

Mutassim Gaddafi, one of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi's sons, has been arrested in Sirte, according to officials in Libya's National Transitional Council.

He is currently being held in Benghazi, the NTC's eastern power base, after being arrested on Wednesday, NTC officials told the Reuters news agency.

"He was arrested today in Sirte," Colonel Abdullah Naker of the Tripoli Revolutionary Council told Reuters.

Fighters in Sirte were reportedly celebrating the news of his arrest on Wednesday night, while citizens in the capital Tripoli took the streets to sound their car horns and fire guns into the sky.

James Bays, reporting from Tripoli, said he had spoken with several high-level NTC officials who had heard the news but could not confirm it. A spokesman for the military said he had not spoken with anyone who had seen Mutassim in custody.

The NTC claimed in August to have captured Gaddafi's highest-profile son, Saif al-Islam, during the final battle for the capital, but that claim turned out to be false, and Saif appeared in public hours later.

If Mutassim was captured, the NTC will be eager to question him regarding the whereabouts of his father and brothers, who are thought to have fled Tripoli as it fell into opposition hands in late August.

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Putin in China to boost bilateral ties

2011-10-12T04:13:00.000-07:00

Vladimr Putin, the Russian prime minister, has arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit expected to focus on energy and trade.

Putin's visit from Tuesday will be his first foreign trip since revealing plans to reclaim Russia's presidency.

Russian officials have said the two sides plan to sign several agreements worth some $7bn and plans for a 30-year deal to supply Russian gas to China are expected to top talks between the two sides.

However, no deal is expected to be signed as the two sides have failed so far to agree on a price for the gas.

Moscow is also unhappy with China's illegal copying of Russian fighter jets and other military hardware, and recently publicised the arrest of a Chinese man accused of seeking to buy military secrets.

On the political front, Putin and Chinese leaders are expected to discuss the situation in Syria.

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Suicide bombers, attacks hit Baghdad police, 23 dead

2011-10-12T04:02:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD | Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:24am EDT

(Reuters) - Suicide bombers and roadside blasts targeted police in a wave of attacks across Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens on the second day of serial bombings in the Iraqi capital in less than a week.

One bomber rammed an explosives-filled vehicle into a police station in central Alwiya district, killing 13, and another blew up his car at a police building in northwestern Hurriya, killing 4 people and wounding 40, officials said.

"A car approached and... the driver smashed through the checkpoint and exploded the car when he hit a concrete barrier," Police Lt. Nadeer Adel told Reuters. "Smoke was everywhere, we all took cover. Minutes later we found a crater and some of our police were dead."

The Hurriya blast burned out police vehicles and damaged the station's blue protective blast walls next to the large crater in the road. In other districts blasts blew out windows from nearby homes and shops, scattering streets with debris.

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Hurricane Jova strikes Mexico coast

2011-10-12T03:56:00.000-07:00

The most recent advisory says winds are travelling at 160km per hour, hitting Mexico's west coast [AFP]

Hurricane Jova has struck Mexico's Pacific coast, according to the national weather service, causing heavy rains and threatening devastating mudslides.

The US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) had earlier predicted that Jova would weaken after hitting land but warned of heavy rains and life-threatening mudslides.

"Jova is landing on the coast of Jalisco, 45 kilometres southeast of Punta Farallon," Marco Antonio Lugo, a meterologist, said on Tuesday.

He said it was a category two storm on the five-point Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

The port city of Manzanillo had been bracing for the storm's arrival, as Mexico issued hurricane alerts for large swaths of the Pacific coast and placed four southern coastal states on high alert.

A zone of about 500km could be affected by the storm, stretching from the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan state to the popular tourist area of Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco state.

The Miami-based NHC said in its most recent advisory, at 03:00 GMT, that the storm was bearing down on the coast with maximum sustained winds of 160km per hour.

"Hurricane conditions are likely beginning to spread over the coast of Mexico within the hurricane warning area," it said.

"A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center makes landfall. Near the coast ... the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves."

It said the storm would move across western Mexico throughout Wednesday, dumping as much as 50 centimeters of rain in some places, which "could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides over steep terrain."

Several major storms or hurricanes have buffeted Mexico's Pacific coast in recent months but most have remained offshore.

The season's first named storm, Arlene, left at least 16 people dead and drenched much of the country in July.

Tropical storms and hurricanes last year caused flooding and mudslides in Mexico that killed 125 people, left hundreds of thousands homeless and caused more than $4 bn in damage.

Authorities are keeping their fingers crossed that any damage caused by the storm will not affect the 16th Pan American Games, one of the major events on the international sports calendar.

The games are to be held from October 14-30 in Jalisco and other cities, including Ciudad Guzman, Puerto Vallarta, Lagos de Moreno and Tapalpa, with up to 6,000 athletes from 42 nations expected to participate.

Egyptian cabinet to meet over violence that kills 24

2011-10-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

(Reuters) - Christians clashed with military police, leaving at least 24 people dead in Cairo, and the cabinet called an emergency meeting for Monday, vowing the violence would not derail Egypt's first election since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.

Christians protesting about an attack on a church set cars on fire, burned army vehicles and hurled rocks at military police who they said used heavy-handed tactics against them. It was some of the worst violence since the February uprising.

The violence casts a shadow over the imminent parliamentary election. Voting starts on November 28 with candidates due to begin registering during the week starting Wednesday.

The clashes also added to growing frustration among activists with the army who many Egyptians suspect wants to keep hold of the reins of power from behind the scenes even as it hands over day-to-day government. The army denies this.

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'Occupy' protests continue in Washington

2011-10-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

"Occupy DC" protesters comprise various groups and have split up to protest and meet later in the square [Reuters]

Protesters have scuffled with security guards at a Washington museum and marched through New York City in the latest popular demonstrations in the US inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Al Jazeera's Monica Villamizar, reporting from Washington, said Saturday's protests were organised to oppose the use of drones by the US military.

"Protesters walked to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and tried to go in with a banner against the use of drones," our correspondent said.

Hundreds of people and groups, including anti-war activists, joined the Occupy DC protests in opposition to the use of unmanned aircraft by the US military, she said. The protest coincided with the 10th anniversary of the start of the Afghanistan war, where drones have frequently been used.

A museum spokesperson said one person was arrested as up to 200 protesters attempted to enter the museum, blocked by six guards.

"There was a lot of shoving going on," Isabel Lara said, adding that one of the guards was surrounded and used pepper spray before the demonstrators were moved outside.

The shoving match broke out in the entrance after guards told the protesters they could not enter with signs, Lara said. She said she was not aware of any injuries.

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Royal Navy issuing redundancy notices.

2011-09-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

HMS Cumberland was involved in the rescue of British citizens from Libya in February

More than 1,000 Royal Navy staff will learn they are being made redundant later as part of a first round of military job cuts.

Of about 1,020 job losses, a third are compulsory. Some 810 sailors applied for redundancy and 670 were accepted.

The navy is cutting numbers by 5,000 to 30,000 by 2015, as part of 22,000 armed forces cuts designed to help save £5bn.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the MoD had to share the blame for the cuts having "helped create the problem".

Earlier this month about 920 soldiers and 930 RAF personnel were told they were being made redundant, in the first tranche of cuts announced in last year's Strategic Defence and Security Review.

The next round of redundancies is due in March. The Ministry of Defence is also shedding 25,000 civilian staff over the next four years.

Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Dr Fox reflected on the actions of military chiefs under previous government, saying: "I think the MoD consistently dug a hole for itself that it eventually found that it could not climb out of.

"It is irritating to hear some of those who helped create the problem criticising us when we try to bring in a solution."

A "complete breakdown of trust" between the military and the government over ballooning costs reached its zenith towards the end of Gordon Brown's premiership, the defence secretary said.

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පණිවුඩය

DNA සැත්කමකින් කලලයක රෝග සුව කිරීම

India seeks action over UAE boat shooting

Pakistanis stage new protest over NATO route

Dozens of MPs quit Japan party over tax rise

Gunman in Afghan police uniform kills three Nato troops

India tests long-range missile; capable of reaching China

Syria uprising deaths top 5,000

Politicians and the navy blamed for illegal fishing

Pakistan NATO blockade to continue

Pakistan PM: No more "business as usual" with U.S.

Farc leader Timochenko new top target in Colombia

NASA launches new Mars rover

Rice containing radioactive caesium found in Japan

More deaths in Indonesia ship sinking

'Head of Mexico's Zetas drug cartel' captured

Renewed clashes in Syria leave many dead

Ex-fund tycoon Rajaratnam set to hear sentence

Amnesty calls on Canada to arrest George Bush

Libyan NTC claims capture of Gaddafi's son

Putin in China to boost bilateral ties

Suicide bombers, attacks hit Baghdad police, 23 dead

Hurricane Jova strikes Mexico coast

Egyptian cabinet to meet over violence that kills 24

'Occupy' protests continue in Washington

Royal Navy issuing redundancy notices.

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