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Pope 'meets clergy abuse victims'

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:12:43 +0100

Pope Benedict XVI has met victims of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy at the end of his visit to Australia, the Vatican has said.

In a statement, the Vatican said a group of victims met the Pope, who wanted to show his concern for those who had suffered.

On Saturday the Pope offered a public apology for the crimes of clergymen.

But victims' groups said the apology did not go far enough, and called for personal meetings with the pontiff.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Bomb blast in Spanish resort town

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:53:01 +0100

A bomb has exploded in the resort town of Laredo, in northern Spain, but no casualties have been reported.

Spanish media said the device went off at about noon on a seafront promenade.

News agency EFE said Basque separatist group ETA had apparently claimed responsibility and warned of three further devices in the Cantabria area.

Laredo, located between Santander and Bilbao, is famous for La Salve, its 5km-long beach.

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Guinea-Bissau drugs plane seized

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:20:45 +0100

Guinea-Bissau police say they have arrested the head of air traffic control at the country's main airport after seizing a plane carrying cocaine.

Reports said there was a standoff at the airport when soldiers tried to stop police searching the aircraft, said to contain 500kg (1,102lb) of the drug.

The plane's three-man Venezuelan crew was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of smuggling cocaine.

The army of the West African state has denied involvement in drugs smuggling.

Correspondents say Guinea-Bissau is a major hub for drugs gangs moving cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

Bribery

Last month the United Nations warned that smugglers were operating there with almost total impunity, aided by rampant corruption.

It is estimated that the volume of cocaine moved through Guinea-Bissau in 2007 was worth more than its entire national income.

Other West African countries are also being affected as traffickers seek new routes to smuggle South American cocaine into Europe.

Police forces in the region lack the resources to combat powerful and well-organised drugs gangs, and there are often huge bribes on offer to officials

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Mass march for peace in Colombia

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:17:18 +0100

Jeremy McDermott
BBC News, Bogota

Colombia is preparing for what is expected to be one of the biggest demonstrations in its history.

Millions are expected to turn out, not just in Colombia but across the world, to call for an end to kidnapping and for peace.

Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian hostage freed in a daring military rescue earlier this month, will lead protests in Paris.

The question is whether the rebels of the Farc group are going to listen.

There will be marches in most of Colombia's more than 1,000 municipalities and at least 40 cities around the world.

The biggest demonstration will be in Bogota, where people will walk along six different routes around the Colombian capital.

'Impervious'

A previous demonstration in February this year saw almost a million people take to the streets in Bogota alone.

Now, after the successful rescue of 15 hostages earlier this month from the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the best-known of whom was Ms Betancourt, the turnout is expected to be even greater, with concerts and events being held not just in Colombia, but Paris as well.

The Farc appear to be impervious to cries for an end to kidnapping, let alone an end to the 44-year civil conflict.

Earlier this week, they kidnapped 10 people travelling down the Atrato River in the western province of Choco.

While being badly hit by US-backed government offensives and a series of recent disasters, there has been no softening of their position.

Yet even the Farc will have to pay attention to not just millions of Colombians but cries from around the world to end the kidnapping and violence

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Sudan leader considers Arab plan

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:08:02 +0100

The head of the Arab League has Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir to discuss accusations against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Amr Moussa said a plan drawn up by the Arab League to solve the crisis had been well received in Khartoum.

During a Cairo meeting on Saturday the Arab League condemned the ICC's call to arrest Mr Bashir on war crimes charges.

ICC lawyers say Mr Bashir must answer charges of genocide over the violence in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

The Arab League said the ICC's move was "unbalanced".

Trial call

Mr Moussa flew to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Sunday to meet Mr Bashir.

"In so far as work is concerned, we had very, very serious discussions for the duration [of] a little less than two hours," Mr Moussa said.

He said he would meet Arab League ministers again on Monday and was confident that progress would be made.

Mr Moussa did not reveal any details of the Arab League's plan, but the organisation called for Sudan to hold credible trials for those accused of war crimes in Darfur.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has asked the court for a warrant for Mr Bashir on suspicion of masterminding crimes against humanity in the region.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo accused Mr Bashir of running a campaign of genocide that killed 35,000 people outright, at least another 100,000 through a "slow death" and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes in Darfur.

Meanwhile, the African Union is preparing to meet in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to discuss the implications of Mr Bashir's possible indictment.

The meeting was requested by the Sudanese government

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Israel probes 'detainee shooting'

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:53:56 +0100

Israel says it has launched an inquiry after an Israeli human rights group released footage that appears to show a soldier shoot a Palestinian detainee.

The video is blurred when the gun fires, but the Palestinian man says a rubber bullet hit his left big toe and he was treated by an army medic.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called the incident "grave" and in "direct contradiction" of the army's values.

Rights group B'Tselem said the incident occurred on 7 July in the West Bank.

B'Tselem said the video clip showed a soldier firing a rubber-coated steel bullet, from close range, at a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee.

It said the shooting took place in the presence of a lieutenant colonel, who was holding the Palestinian man's arm when the shot was fired.

Investigation

A 14-year-old girl reportedly filmed the incident from the window of her home in the town of Nilin, which has been the scene of violent protests against Israel's West Bank barrier.

"I closed my eyes and I don't remember anything. It felt like my leg was gone"
Ashraf Abu Rahman

B'Tselem said it received the tape on Sunday and forwarded a copy to the Military Police Investigation Unit, demanding an inquiry.

The Palestinian, Ashraf Abu Rahman, was quoted by local media as saying: "During the demonstration the soldiers caught me, arrested me - and after a few moments I heard shots and felt a fire in my body. I was afraid and didn't know what it was."

"I closed my eyes and I don't remember anything. It felt like my leg was gone," the 27-year-old said.

In a statement quoted by the Jerusalem Post, the IDF said: "Military law forbids inflicting harm on detainees and obligates soldiers to show them respect and ensure their safety."

The IDF said that, in accordance with its policy, the footage had been reviewed by a senior official, and an investigation was under way.

The Israeli government says the West Bank barrier is a security measure to stop suicide bombers, but critics say the structure is a calculated effort to annex occupied land.

Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 war. It has settled hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the West Bank and keeps a large military presence there.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Israel deal possible, says Brown

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:56:51 +0100

Gordon Brown has said he is optimistic Israel and the Palestinians can sign a peace deal, and has promised British funds to help it work.

The PM was speaking after meetings with Israeli and Palestinian ministers during a visit to the Middle East.

Mr Brown said the UK "would do anything we can" to underpin a political breakthrough with economic support.

Earlier he said there was an "urgent need for justice" for the Palestinians, and a viable Palestinian state.

Speaking at a joint press conference after talks with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mr Brown said he "understood the obstacles" to a peace settlement.

Opportunities

But, he added: "There are great opportunities and we now need to move forward to a peace settlement which is viable and long-lasting."

Mr Olmert said he was confident that a deal could be reached by the end of 2008.

And he revealed that Mr Brown had criticised the Israeli government's policy of continuing to build settlements on disputed land.

Turning to Mr Brown, he said: "You criticised our settlement policy, and I tried to explain to you the restraints that we put on ourselves on the one hand, and the need to keep the pace of life going on the other.

"While you disagree with us I hope you understand the position of Israel.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Brilliant Harrington retains Open

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:39:27 +0100

Ireland's Padraig Harrington successfully defended the Open after a final round of 69 took him to three over par, four ahead of Ian Poulter.

Poulter finished second after a 69 to end seven over and was in with a shout of the title before Harrington'sapproach on 17 gifted him an eagle.

Two-time champion Greg Norman finished tied third after a 77 ended his hopes of a dream return to major golf.

England's Chris Wood hit a final round of 72 to take the Silver Medal award.

More soon.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Hamilton fights back for victory

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:34:59 +0100

By Andrew Benson

Lewis Hamilton moved into a four-point championship lead after a brilliant victory in the German Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver led from the start but a comfortable win was put in doubt by his team's decision not to pit him during a safety car period.

Hamilton dropped to fourth when he did finally stop under racing conditions.

But team-mate Heikki Kovalainen let the Englishman by, and Hamilton was able to catch and pass Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Renault's Nelson Piquet.

Hamilton passed Massa on lap 57 when the Brazilian made it too easy for the McLaren driver.

Massa appeared to have the inside line into the hairpin covered, but he then went back to the outside, giving Hamilton the chance to take the place.

Hamilton then quickly closed the two-second gap to Piquet and passed him in the same place, and in similar fashion on lap 60.

606: DEBATE
"A few worried moments there over the safety car "
*jollysilverking

Piquet found himself in the lead because he was on a one-stop strategy, and he had just made his pit stop when the safety car was deployed.

He took the lead when first Hamilton and then BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld stopped.

But the novice was in no position to hold off the charging Hamilton in a much faster car.

He was, however, more than capable of holding off Massa, who was unable to catch the Renault before the end of the race.

It was Renault's first podium finish since the Japanese Grand Prix last year, and it was ironic that it should come from a man who has been overshadowed by team-mate Fernando Alonso this year.

By contrast, Alonso had a race to forget - he was stuck behind slower cars for the entire afternoon, but none of his overtaking attempts came off, and several of them ended with him being outfoxed by rivals and losing a place to the car behind him.

He also spun late in the race, losing a position he had just taken from Nico Rosberg's Williams, and finished in 11th place.

Massa's performance was also unimpressive, it was better than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who was uncompetitive all weekend.

After qualifying sixth, the Finn never looked like being a factor in the race, and he finished in the same place.

He is now seven points behind Hamilton as the world championship battle continues to see-saw from race to race.

BMW benefited from their decision not to pit Heidfeld under the safety as the German took fourth place ahead of Kovalainen.

Heidfeld had been out of the top 10 for much of the first part of the race.

Kubica was running fourth in the first part of the race, having passed Alonso and Raikkonen on the first lap, but he lost out to the Finn once racing resumed after the safety car.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Obama meets Afghan leader Karzai

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:36:51 +0100

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has met President Hamid Karzai while on a visit to Afghanistan.

Details of the talks have not yet been given. Mr Obama said earlier this week he would send extra US forces to the country if he is elected US president.

The senator, who flew to Kabul as part of a US congressional team, also had breakfast with US troops in the city.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain criticised him for announcing a strategy before visiting the region.

Mr Obama is later expected to visit Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.

Correspondents say the Illinois senator is hoping to address security issues, seen as the weakest aspect of his bid to win the presidency in November's election.

Opinion polls suggest Americans regard Mr McCain, senator for Arizona, as a better potential commander-in-chief.

'Shared experiences'

Mr Obama and Mr Karzai met for lunch in the presidential palace in Kabul, according to officials, but it is not known what they discussed.

TRUSTED ON MIDDLE EAST

Americans with more trust in one candidate than the other to handle the situation involving -

Iraq: McCain 47%, Obama 45%

Iran: McCain 46%, Obama 44%

Israel and the Palestinians: McCain 44%, Obama 42%

Source: Washington Post/ABC News, 10-13 July

Pitfalls for Obama on world tour

Vote USA 2008: Foreign policy

In an interview with CNN last week, Mr Obama criticised Mr Karzai's government, saying it had "not gotten out of the bunker" and had done too little to rebuild the country's institutions.

However, asked ahead of his visit what message he would convey to Afghan and Iraqi leaders, Mr Obama said: "I'm more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking."

He stressed that he was visiting the region as a senator, not as president.

Mr Obama and two other senators on the trip, Republican Chuck Hagel and Democrat Jack Reed, had earlier talked to US troops over breakfast inside Camp Eggers in Kabul.

"They sat with the soldiers, shared stories with the soldiers about what is going on in Afghanistan... shared experiences," said US military spokesman Lt Col Dave Johnson.

Combat brigades

On Saturday, the opening day of Mr Obama's overseas trip, the congressional delegation visited the north-east of the country, where he met troops and US officials.

The area has seen an increase in fighting with pro-Taleban rebels in recent months, notably along the border with Pakistan.

In a speech earlier this week, Mr Obama promised to commit at least two more combat brigades - up to 10,000 men - to Afghanistan, if he wins November's election.

He also said the US military should focus on that country rather than Iraq.

Mr Obama also said he would talk to commanders in both Afghanistan and Iraq to find out about their concerns.

Correspondents say the McCain campaign will seize on every perceived misstep during Mr Obama's trip, and will also point out that Mr McCain's earlier visits to Iraq and elsewhere attracted far less public attention

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Burma to dominate Asean summit

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:40:48 +0100

By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Singapore

The annual summit meeting of foreign ministers from the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) begins on Monday in Singapore.

They will address some large challenges for the 40-year-old association, among them the issue of Burma's membership.

The summit will release a full assessment of the relief effort following the cyclone two months ago, which has been co-ordinated by Asean.

It also provides a rare forum in which regional powers can meet.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to meet her North Korean counterpart, the first time such a senior-level meeting has taken place for six years.

'Emboldened' group

Expectations of Asean summits have sunk so low in recent years, the Association may suddenly be in danger of exceeding them.

A new Secretary General, Surin Pitsuwan - an outstanding former Thai foreign minister - has breathed new energy into this regional bloc - and even in dealing with its most controversial member, Burma, Asean can finally boast an achievement.

Its offer to mediate after the cyclone disaster two months ago was greeted with huge scepticism.

But Asean's long history of conciliation towards the Burmese military government may have helped it bridge the yawning mistrust between the generals and the international donor community.

Its comprehensive report on the relief effort will show that most of the post-cyclone needs were, in the end, met.

Emboldened, Asean is grappling with other regional challenges - a new disaster response plan, food security initiatives, even a new charter, which supposedly enshrines respect for human rights, and is expected to be signed by all members - even Burma - by the end of the year.

But the rationale for this association has always been less about what it does, than what it aims to prevent - conflict among its 10 member states, and domination by regional powers like the United States, China and India.

And bigger regional issues on the sidelines of this summit - notably a meeting of Foreign Ministers from the six parties to the North Korean nuclear talks - are still likely to overshadow anything that Asean itself announces.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Nine face stoning death in Iran

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:20:18 +0100

At least eight women and one man are reported to have been sentenced to death by stoning in Iran.

The group, convicted of adultery and sex offences, could be executed at any time, lawyers defending them say.

The lawyers have called on the head of Iran's judiciary to prevent the sentences from being carried out.

The last officially reported stoning in Iran last year drew strong criticism from human rights groups and the European Union.

The eight women sentenced, whose ages range from 27 to 43, had convictions including prostitution, incest and adultery, Reuters news agency reported.

The man, a 50-year-old music teacher, was convicted of illegal sex with a student, reports said.

Moratorium imposed

Under Iran's Islamic law, stoning to death is the punishment for the crime of adultery.

In 2002 Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi imposed a moratorium on stoning, but at least three people are reported to have been executed by stoning since then.

Shadi Sadr from the Volunteer Lawyers' Network, which is representing the women, said: "We are very worried as there are at least eight women and one man with a definitive verdict which can be carried out any moment.

"Our specific... demand is to have the stoning sentence stopped by Ayatollah Shahroudi since the defendants are liable to be stoned at any moment"
Lawyer Mariam Kian-Arsi

"There are no guarantees that the punishments will be halted or commuted."

She called on the international community to back their efforts, adding: "We are in close touch with human rights organisations and many of them have supported our campaign."

Fellow defence lawyer Mariam Kian-Arsi said: "Our specific and clear demand is to have the stoning sentence stopped by Ayatollah Shahroudi since the defendants are liable to be stoned at any moment."

Women 'poorly represented'

In theory the penalty of stoning to death applies to both men and women.

But the lawyers say that in practice, many more women than men receive the sentence because they are less well educated and often poorly represented in court.

Human rights group Amnesty International earlier this year called on Iran to abolish "this grotesque punishment" and said many facing execution by stoning were sentenced after unfair trials.

Under Iran's strict penal code, men convicted of adultery should be buried up to their waists and women up to their chests for stoning. The stones used should not be large enough to kill the person immediately

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

German hostages 'freed in Turkey'

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:14:01 +0100

Three German climbers taken hostage by Kurdish armed rebel group the PKK have been released, reports say.

The tourists were seized from their camp on Mount Ararat in Turkey's eastern Agri province on 9 July.

The PKK vowed not to release them unless Germany renounced its crackdown on the group, defined as a terrorist organisation by the US, EU and Turkey.

But news of their release was reported on the CNN-Turk and Turkish NTV television channels on Sunday.

The Germans were part of a 13-member climbing team that had set upcamp at 3,200m (10,500ft) on the mountain, the highest in Turkey and a popular tourist destination.

Their seizure came a month after Germany banned a Kurdish television station which the country's interior minister said was a mouthpiece for the armed group.

Germany also extradited two PKK militants to Turkey last year.

Turkey has in recent months stepped up its campaign against PKK bases in northern Iraq, in response to an increase in attacks by the group.

The PKK seeks autonomy for Kurds in south-eastern Turkey. More than 30,000 people have been killed since the group began its armed campaign in 1984

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Zimbabwe talks 'to move ahead'

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:33:05 +0100

Zimbabwe's ruling party and opposition are close to agreeing the framework for talks on the country's political crisis, Kenya's prime minister says.

PM Raila Odinga, who spoke to Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday, said the framework would be signed this week.

Mr Tsvangirai said he was ready to meet President Robert Mugabe if preliminary talks went well, Mr Odinga said.

The opposition has refused to recognise Mr Mugabe's re-election last month.

He won a run-off in which he was the only candidate, and which was marred by political violence.

Mbeki problem

The framework, a memorandum of understanding setting out the conditions for talks on a possible power-sharing agreement, was expected to be signed by Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai last week.

But Mr Tsvangirai did not sign, insisting that his demands had not yet been met.

His party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had identified South Africa's Thabo Mbeki - the lead negotiator in the talks - as a key problem.

They accused him of being biased in favour of Mr Mugabe, and Mr Tsvangirai had asked for another envoy to join the talks.

It was later announced that a group of senior diplomats, drawn from the UN, African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), would help Mr Mbeki - a move welcomed by Mr Tsvangirai.

Mr Odinga told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that he had "talked to Morgan Tsvangirai, and told him of the need to negotiate".

Mr Tsvangarai's team was going to Pretoria for preliminary talks, and "depending on how they progress, he's willing to go to Pretoria for talks with Mugabe", he added

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Coalition 'bombs Afghan police'

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:12:31 +0100

Nine Afghan policemen have been killed in a air strike after an apparently mistaken clash with international-led coalition forces, local officials say.

The deputy governor of Farah province, Younus Rasuli, said the foreign troops did not inform police they were coming and were mistaken for enemy fighters.

The two sides fought from midnight until about 4am, until the troopscalled in the airstrike, he said.

Nato and US coalition officials are investigating the reports

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Car restrictions begin in Beijing

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 06:22:53 +0100

Beijing's authorities have introduced drastic traffic rules in a bid to remove more than one million cars from the streets ahead of the Olympic Games.

The move, part of the fight against the Chinese capital's infamous pollution and congestion, restricts residents to using their cars on alternate days.

Officials hope about half of the city's estimated 3,300,000 cars will be forced from the road over the next two months.

A slew of measures to boost air quality have been implemented for the Games.

Construction workers have been ordered to down tools and high-polluting industries are cutting production.

The authorities have ordered firms, shops and other organisations to stagger work times to cut traffic volumes.

They are also encouraging as many people as possible to work from home.

The city's public transport system has been improved to cater for millions of Beijingers forced to ditch their cars.

Surveillance system

The new car restriction, brought in from Sunday, is enforced using the driver's registration number.

Odd-numbered registrations are allowed to use their cars one day, even-numbered the next.

More than 10,000 detection devices including cameras and "ultrasonic and microwave" scanners have been installed to catch anyone breaking the rules.

Drivers caught by the surveillance network will be fined 100 yuan ($15; Â£7.50).

The move reflects the importance officials are placing on improving air pollution - which remains a pressing problem just weeks before the start of the Games on 8 August.

The International Olympic Committee has said it could postpone endurance events of more than one hour on days when the pollution is too bad.

Are you in Beijing Have you been affected by the new traffic rules Send us your comments using the form below.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

In pictures

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:23:01 +0100

Images from climax of the Pope's visit to Australia

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Brazil police arrest bank thief, find stolen Picasso

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:10:02 +0100

Police in Brazil have recovered an engraving by Pablo Picasso that was stolen from a museum in Sao Paulo.

The Painter and the Model was taken in a daylight robbery in June from the state-owned Estacao Pinacoteca museum.

Police said an arrested suspect had had led them to the engraving, wrapped in a plastic bag and hidden in an attic, apparently in perfect condition.

Another Picasso and two paintings by Brazilian artists stolen in the same robbery have not yet been recovered.

The man arrested was held on suspicion of trying to steal a cash machine, but instead led police to the stole Picasso.

"We were taken by surprise,"Inspector Cesar Carlos Dias told the Associated Press.

"We were keeping an eye on [the suspect] and two other men because we had information they were planning to steal automatic teller machines and rob banks.

"In a tapped phone conversation, the Picasso print was mentioned."

The man, a 30-year-old Sao Paulo resident, was arrested on charges of robbery, police said.

The two Picasso engravings and the other works stolen in June have a combined estimated value of 1million Brazilian reals (US$630,000), museum officials have said.

Sao Paulo has a history of art thefts: a painting by Picasso was among two works stolen from the city's Museum of Art that were recovered in January

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Al-Qaeda 'may be shifting focus'

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:07:22 +0100

Al-Qaeda may be considering shifting its focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, the top US commander in Iraq has said.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Gen David Petraeus said there was evidence that foreign fighters were being diverted away from Iraq.

But he said there was no suggestion the militant Islamist group would entirely abandon the fight in Iraq.

Al-Qaeda evolved in Afghanistan and was closely-linked to the Taleban regime, toppled by US-led forces in 2001.

As Iraq became the main theatre of conflict in the Middle East, al-Qaeda's leadership focused its efforts on fighting there.

"What they certainly may do is start to provide some of those resources that would have come to Iraq to Pakistan, possibly Afghanistan"
Gen David Petraeus
US commander in Iraq

"We do think that there is some assessment ongoing as to the continued viability of al-Qaeda's fight in Iraq," Gen Petraeus said.

But he warned: "They're not going to abandon Iraq. They're not going to write it off. None of that.

"What they certainly may do is start to provide some of those resources that would have come to Iraq to Pakistan, possibly Afghanistan."

He said there were signs that foreign fighters recruited by al-Qaeda to do battle in Iraq were being diverted to the largely ungoverned areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

The US has often expressed concern at the flow of insurgents through the porous border with Pakistan.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently said he was "working very hard" to find a way to counter the movement of militants through the border

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Smile, Beijing!

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:22:49 +0100

By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing

Beijing citizens have been told not to pick their noses, yawn or scratch their heads when talking to foreigners during the Olympics.

They have also been given a list of things not to ask overseas visitors - a list so exhaustive it could make conversation difficult.

Ordinary people have also been given detailed instructions on how to talk to disabled people during the Paralympics.

Chinese officials want ordinary people to show the country's most civilised face during the sporting events.

A booklet prepared by the propaganda department of Beijing's Dongcheng District gives locals an introduction to the games.

It has a special section on dealing with foreigners, including what to do when talking to overseas visitors.

'Wear a smile'

"In conversation, wear a smile, don't stare too long or do anything to make people feel ill at ease," it says.

"The booklet advises Beijing people to say to disabled people such things as: 'You're really excellent'"
It also warns Beijing people not to yawn, shout, pick their noses, scratch their heads, play with their fingernails or pull at their clothes while talking.

The booklet suggests people abide by the "eight don't ask" principle when talking to foreigners.

Subjects to avoid include what foreigners earn or how much they spend, how old they are, whether they are married and whether they are healthy.

Also off-limits are questions about where foreigners live, where they have worked, their religious or political beliefs, or what they are currently doing.

In the booklet, propaganda chiefs remind Beijing citizens to be careful when being interviewed by foreign journalists during the Olympics, which begin on 8 August.

It tells them not to say or do anything that harms national prestige, the country's image or national security.

Queuing day

Beijing officials are obviously concerned about how disabled people will be treated during the Paralympics, which takes place just after the Olympics.

"Before you help [a disabled person], first of all get their agreement and co-operation. Absolutely do not use force or be too enthusiastic,"says the booklet.

It advises Beijing people to say to disabled people such things as:"You're really excellent".

Officials have long been concerned about their own citizens' behaviour during the Olympics, and have launched several campaigns to stamp out bad habits.

The 11th day of the month was designated queuing day, instituted to convince people not to barge onto buses and trains.

These campaigns are generally supported by ordinary people.

"The queuing campaign definitely helps people to behave better," said Yang Xiaoyan as she waited to board a train at Beijing Yonghegong Temple subway station.

"In the past it was really chaotic at this subway station," she added.

Queuing, crossing the road, driving a car, watching Olympic events and talking to foreigners: Officials want to make sure everyone does it right

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

UK 'must check' US torture denial

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:01:29 +0100

The British government should not rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, a report by MPs says.

The foreign affairs select committee said the UK and US differ on their definitions of what constitutes torture and it urged the UK to check US claims.

It recommended the government carry out an "exhaustive analysis of current US interrogation techniques."

The MPs also said the government should check claims that Britain is not used by the US for "rendition" flights.

The committee highlighted the technique of "water-boarding" - a practice which simulates drowning.

The US describes it as "a legal technique used in a specific set of circumstances" and President Bush has refused to ban it.

"Given the clear differences in definition, the UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture"
Foreign Affairs Select Committee

However, the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it is torture and "the UK unreservedly condemns the use of torture."

In its report, the committee said: "Given the clear differences in definition, the UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the government does not rely on such assurances in the future."

The MPs also challenged the government to check more actively that Britain had not been used by the Americans for so called "rendition" flights - when detainees are taken to countries where bans on torture may not apply.

The UK had repeatedly accepted assurances that it had not, but it was discovered earlier this year that two rendition planes refuelled on the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The MPs stressed the UK had a "legal and moral obligation" to ensure no more of these flights landed on British territory.

A change in approach would have implications for the extradition of prisoners to the US, particularly in terror cases, as a United Nations convention bars the return of individuals to states where they are at risk of being tortured.

The MPs also urged the Foreign Office to investigate allegations that the UK "outsourced" interrogation of six terror suspects to Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, where they were tortured and interrogated by British intelligence officers.

Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown told the committee: "We absolutely deny the charge that we have in any way outsourced torture to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as a way of extracting information, either for court use or for use in counter-terrorism."

Human rights campaign group Amnesty International UK said the report justified its call for an investigation into terror techniques and rendition.

The group's head of policy Jeremy Croft said: "While we have always stressed the need to combat terrorism, we share the committee's concerns over the UK government and its current counter-terrorism policy."

He added: "In particular, the UK government needs to take allegations of torture at Guantanamo and other US detention centres altogether more seriously.

"The committee's conclusions amount to saying we can no longer rely on assurances from a US administration that purports to uphold the civil and political standards of behaviour"
Andrew Tyrie MP

"This must mean pressing harder for proper trial or safe release of Binyam Mohamed, Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha - three Guantanamo prisoners who are either formerly resident in the UK or with links to the UK."

Andrew Tyrie MP, the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition, said the government must demand answers from the US.

"The committee's conclusions amount to saying that we can no longer rely on assurances from a US administration that purports to uphold the civil and political standards of behaviour, while in fact kidnapping people and taking them to places where they may be maltreated.

"Only by practising what we preach will we be able to win back the support of Muslim communities at home and abroad and build the strongest coalition around the world against terrorism.

Missing Semtex 'left unguarded'

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:24:25 +0100

A depot in France from which a large quantity of powerful explosive went missing was poorly guarded, the regional head of security has said.

The storage of 28kg (61lb) of Semtex at the site near Lyon was "not usual and certainly not authorised", Xavier de Fuerst also told the AFP news agency.

A search by anti-terrorist officers is under way, and the manager of the site has been suspended pending an inquiry.

Semtex is favoured by terrorists as it is odourless and difficult to detect.

"I am extremely surprised and angry that... you can store products as dangerous as this without any protection"
Mayor of Corbas
Thierry Butin

The depot, in a disused 19th Century fort at Corbas, is used by a civil defence unit charged with the job of blowing up bombs and ammunition left over from the two world wars.

Mr de Fuerst said the site had been bought by the interior ministry in 2005, and that existing security measures had fallen into disrepair.

He said that the storage of the explosives had not been authorised until work to replace security cameras and reinforce the entrances - scheduled for 2009 - was complete.

He said that neither the police nor local authorities were aware that the Semtex was being stored there.

The mayor of Corbas, Thierry Butin, told local media: "I am extremely surprised and angry that from one day to the next you can store products as dangerous as this, without any protection."

'Security failings'

Police said detonators were also missing and that they were treating the theft "very seriously".

Police said the discovery that the Semtex was missing was made on Friday but admitted the explosives could have been taken up to a week ago.

In a statement released late on Friday the interior ministry said "security failings" had made the theft possible.

Semtex, which was first made in the Czech Republic, is used in mining and demolition work.

A bomb containing about half a kilogram of the explosive caused the blast which brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people.

Zimbabwe introduces Z$100bn note

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:54:11 +0100

Zimbabwe is to introduce a bank-note worth Z$100bn in response to rampant inflation - but the note will barely cover the cost of two loaves of bread.

Some Zimbabweans are already calling for higher denominations in a country where the official annual inflation rate has exceeded 2,200,000%.

Independent economists believe the real rate is many times higher.

Zimbabwe's meltdown has left at least 80% of the population in poverty, facing mass shortages of basic goods.

The country's central bank has introduced several new notes already this year in response to the hyperinflation.

In January, a Z$10 million note was issued, followed by a Z$50 million. By June the denominations had reached tens of billions.

Daily bread

In a notice in the state-controlled Herald newspaper, central bank governor Gideon Gono said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe would introduce the new notes - known as special agro-cheques - to help consumers.

"This new $100 billion special agro-cheque will go into circulation on Monday," the notice said.

But Zimbabwe residents say the latest note is already worthless, and does not even cover their daily lunch.

"Nowadays, for my expenses a day, I need about Z$500 billion," one resident said.

"So Z$100 billion can't do anything because for me to go home I need Z$250 billion, so this [note] is worthless."

Zimbabwe was once one of the richest countries in Africa.

But it has descended into economic chaos in recent years, with many international observers blaming the policies of President Robert Mugabe

Pet dog rescues woman from kangaroo attack

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:07:46 +0100

An Australian woman has been saved by a pet dog which leapt to her aid after she was attacked by a large kangaroo, her son has said.

The animal assaulted Rosemary Neal, 65, at her farm near Mudgee in central New South Wales, 265km (160 miles) north-west of Sydney, her son, Darren, said.

"The kangaroo just jumped up and launched straight at her," he said.

"My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off. If it wasn't for the dog, she'd probably be dead."

Mrs Neal was taken to hospital with concussion and cuts to her face, hands and back, her son said.

He added that the area had been overrun by kangaroos in recent years.

Kangaroos are widespread across Australia. Most species are not considered aggressive toward humans.

The forgotten French village massacre

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:05:34 +0100

A wartime massacre in small French village is going to be examined by a German prosecutor. Emma Jane Kirby has been to Maille, in the Loire valley, to meet the survivors.

A thick fringe of heavy, yellow sunflowers borders Maille on all sides, and in the village itself, there is barely a bench or a hanging basket which is not bursting with a lavish floral arrangement.

The houses are all uniformly white. None looks lived in enough to boast of any history.

Manicured, painted and polished, the streets here seem intent on putting up a good show.

But put your head round the door of the village cafe and the staircase - pock marked by bullet scars - immediately lets slip that Maille has another very different face.

Underneath the lacquered, surface display, lies a festering mass of sores and black secrets.

'Unlocking memories'

On the morning of the 25 April 1944, scores of German soldiers stormed into the village and began to kill every living creature they found in their path.

Children were slaughtered like chickens, babies butchered in front of their mothers and grandfathers hacked down like weeds.

Nearly every house, barn and farmyard was set alight and within a couple of brutal hours, Maille was almost obliterated, with 124 of its villagers massacred.

Ironically, at the same moment that the people of Maille were screaming in terror, the people of Paris were cheering with joy at their liberation.

For the past 64 years, Maille has kept silent.

But now a German prosecutor has promised to shed light on what happened here and slowly, painfully, memories are being unlocked.

Childhood loss

As she waters the pansies in her meticulous garden, her arthritic hands shaking, Gisele Bourgoing gives me brief flashes into her experience on the day of the massacre.

I am able to picture her hiding with her mother in a cellar, cowering at the thundering of black boots overhead, and I can hear her calling for her missing daddy when the firing finally ends.

The memories are staccato, quickly cut off before they can blossom further.

"We never spoke about it," she whispers. "Parents said nothing to children and children knew never to ask questions."

In total, Gisele lost 17 members of her family in the massacre, including her father.

'Hue of sorrow'

A few hundred metres up the road, her slightly older cousin Gilbert keeps a pristine farm where the geese are clean enough to have hopped from the pages of a Beatrix Potter book.

Gilbert looks at me with soft and faded blue eyes which somehow seem to embody both the colour of gentleness and the hue of sorrow.

I wonder if the colour has been wept away.

I tell him he has a beautiful house and he shrugs off the compliment quickly explaining no, this is is not the real house. That was burned down 64 years ago and this is just a replacement.

In the corner of the field he points to a dark wooden barn which is the only original part of the property. They burnt the rest, he tells me and they shot all the cows.

His blue eyes look confused briefly.

"No," he corrects himself, "the Germans shot three cows in the morning and then in the afternoon when we thought they'd gone, they suddenly came back and shot seven more."

Quietly he adds that the soldiers also murdered 37 members of his family.

"My little cousins," he says, "I still can't forget the little cousins you see, I used to play with them and they were so..."

But then his voice trails away and I can see him pushing the memory back under.

Instead he tells me his story of survival, how for two nail-biting hours his mother, sisters and the two sheep dogs hid silently in a stream under a bridge while unsuspecting German officers yelled orders above them.

"Why didn't they discover us" Gilbert asks. "Why didn't the sheep dogs who always barked at loud noises, give us away"

He's not sure what good will come of the German prosecutor's inquiry into the Maille massacre but he says: "Maybe it's a good way to honour the victims, for my cousins who were..."

Flower of choice

The memorial in the cemetery fills in the blanks that Gilbert and Gisele cannot voice.

Eliane Guitan, aged six. Gerard Guitan aged four, Jackie Guitan, aged two, Hubert Menanteau, aged three months.

Gisele's house is built on the site where several villagers lost their lives.

She treasures a photograph of the original building that stood there and has marked the exact spot where the front door would have been with a bed of clustering pansies. She is crying as she waters the flowers, telling me she cannot look at them without remembering.

It is so painful, she says to me, but it is so important to keep the pansies alive.

On the train home I suddenly remember with a jolt that the word for pansy in French, "pensee", also means thought.

It is only then I understand that Gisele and all the other villagers are not covering anything up with their garish flowers. They are simply saying: lest we forget.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 19 July, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

Mexico's long forgotten dirty war

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:02:51 +0100

By Duncan Kennedy
BBC News, Mexico

Mexico's dirty war - in which political dissenters "disappeared" - was much less publicised than similiar events in other Latin American countries. But the first attempts are now being made to find some of those who were buried in mass graves in the 1960s and 70s.

I have always found it strange and sad that the most awful things happen in the most beautiful of places.

I remember in Kosovo - during the conflict between the Serbs and ethnic Albanians - being taken down a country track.

The trees on either side leant over in exact, interlocking, symmetry and formed a lush green tunnel ahead of us.

It could have been New England or Provence.

Mass grave

But at the end of this track was a mass grave full of decaying corpses.

It was the same with my trip to Western Mexico.

An hour or so north of Acapulco lies the town of Atoyac.

A pretty, but typically poor Mexican town, where you negotiate the potholes with care.

We had come to find its former army base.

After being pointed in the right direction, we arrived at the gate of the base, the same barrier that once must have instilled terror into those who had been brought here against their will.

Deceptive vista

Inside was a series of white-walled, single-floor concrete huts. About 10 of them, around a square.

Beyond lay beautiful, mountainous slopes, carpeted with vivid green jungle.

But, as with Kosovo, I knew my stunning vista was only a deceptive prelude to something more horrifying.

Soon, our guide - from one of Mexico's human rights groups - was leading us to the back of the camp.

At the end was a brick wall. We peered over. There, in the garden, among the wild yellow and white flowers, were 20 people with hard hats and sweating foreheads, all digging.

They were prising the earth from the ground, where years before others had shovelled out the same soil, only with more sinister motives.

This was almost certainly a mass grave. And now the men in hard hats were digging for human remains.

According to human rights organisations, this was a death camp in Mexico's dirty war of the 1960s and 70s.

Torture camps

Up to 470 people are thought to have been tortured and killed at this one location, we were told. And there were many other camps.

It had taken years to persuade the government to allow this dig to take place, Mexico's first.

To have the words "Mexico", "dirty war" and "death camp" all appear in the same sentence, might come as a shock to some people.

We all know about Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, but Mexico

I met the family of Rosendo Radilla, a local man brought here in 1974.

His son, also called Rosendo, was just 10-years-old when soldiers came to take away his father.

His eyes swollen with tears, he tells me his father was active in council politics. But he was never the left-wing anarchist he was accused of being, by the commanding officer of the late night snatch squad.

Rosendo and his 11 brothers and sisters never saw their father again. They now believe him to be one of those buried in this garden.

But Mexico's dirty war was not just conducted behind the walls of secluded army camps.

Hidden repression

One of the most infamous incidents occurred during a student demonstration in the centre of the country's capital, Mexico City. It was 2 October 1968 at La Plaza De Las Tres Culturas.

Elements in the government of the ruling right-wing PRI party decided the demonstration was a national threat. So they sent in teams of plain-clothes soldiers, who started firing on the crowd.

Conservative estimates now suggest at least 300 people died in the square. Others believe as many as 800 were killed.

Most of the bodies were taken away in secret.

"There is no clamour here for truth and reconciliation commissions"

Incredibly, the massacre - for that is what it was - took place just 10 days before the start of the 1968 Olympic games in the city.

The country's press were intimidated into saying practically nothing and the games duly went ahead.

Mexico's security forces were trained by the Americans, just as others in Latin American states were at the time.

Back at the old army camp in Atoyac, the digging continues. It will go on for some time.

There is no clamour here for truth and reconciliation commissions, as in other places.

It all happened a long time ago. The evidence pointing to the perpetrators is now as flimsy as the forensic fragments now being placed in plastic bags.

There are documented cases of up to 2,000 people who are known to have disappeared during this period.

But their families will probably never find out exactly what happened to them, no matter how long they spend in this beautiful, but blighted, place.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 19 July, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

Sunni bloc rejoins Iraqi cabinet

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:05:38 +0100

The main Sunni Muslim bloc in Iraq has rejoined the Shia-led government, in a significant lift for Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
The return of six ministers from the Accordance Front to the cabinet was approved by lawmakers.
The Sunni bloc withdrew almost a year ago following a row over power-sharing.
A spokesman for the Accordance Front said its return was a significant step forward for political reform in the predominantly Shia country.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Uneasy allies

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:55:18 +0100

The US and Pakistan remain allies in the international fight against terrorism but relations have been worsening. The US is accusing Pakistan of failing to rein in Taleban and al-Qaeda militants that take refuge in its border region and, as Barbara Plett reports, there is growing anger among Pakistanis towards the US.
"When soldiers here die fighting the pro-Taleban tribesmen in their border region, there is a debate about whether or not they are martyrs"

About a thousand soldiers have died since Pakistan joined America's so-called "war on terror".
So the funerals of 11 more, killed last month along the Afghan-Pakistan border, should not have been anything unusual.
But those who attended the services described a feeling that had been absent in the past.
Many of the family members were clearly proud. They considered their sons martyrs who had died for the homeland.
Pakistani soldiers who were supposed to be fighting hand-in-hand with US forces against the Taleban had, in fact, been killed by US missiles.
The Americans said they had been aiming at militants. Pakistan called it an unprovoked act of aggression.
When soldiers here die fighting the pro-Taleban tribesmen in their border region, there is a debate about whether or not they are martyrs. Some religious scholars say that honour belongs to the Taleban, not to troops fighting their own people.
This time, according to those at the funerals, there was no such ambivalence.
These soldiers were killed by Americans... non-Muslims, said the Imams, bent on harming Islamic countries. "May God destroy the alien forces," they prayed.
'Busharraf'
During my time here, there has always been antipathy to American foreign policy, as in other Muslim countries where the "war on terror" is seen as little more than a war against Islam.
Lately though, the anti-Americanism has swelled to a tide, not only in the border region but in the more Westernised urban centres as well.
Even the usually cloistered American ambassador, Anne Patterson, felt the chill.
"I'm surprised at the depth of anti-Americanism," she admitted in a recent meeting with Pakistani businessmen, "especially in the middle classes."
She reminded her audience of how Pakistan benefits from US economic assistance and that it shares the same long-term interests. "It is the prosperous middle class that would be the first to suffer should the extremists win," she said.
A few weeks later she was snubbed by a member of that prosperous middle class while handing out awards for academic excellence. A Pakistani university student brushed past her, strode to the podium and made a 20-second protest speech.
The young man, who is studying at Harvard, became a celebrity. He was praised by the media and inundated with thousands of messages of support.
His moment of defiance was endlessly replayed on YouTube.
"There is a growing sense that Pakistan has been sucked into an unwinnable war"
In his speech he told the ambassador he was protesting against "repeated US air strikes that kill many innocent Pakistanis," and what he said was US tacit support for an unconstitutional president.
He was referring to George Bush's support for Pakistan's erstwhile military leader Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a coup.
The US president called the general Washington's most "allied ally" in the international fight against terrorism. Pakistanis called him "Busharraf".
But cynicism turned to anger when Mr Bush continued to back his friend, despite a popular movement against Mr Musharraf for illegally purging the judiciary and despite the defeat of the president's supporters in February's general elections.
Military involvement
America's key relationship in Pakistan has been with the army, especially since 9/11.
Put simply, the US pays the Pakistani army billions of dollars to fight the "war on terror".
US legislators refer to this relationship as transactional but many Pakistanis say it is mercenary.
In recent trips with the army to the border region, I got the feeling the tag is beginning to hurt.
The military's high profile cooperation with the Americans has triggered waves of revenge attacks within the country, many targeting the army.
There is a growing sense that Pakistan has been sucked into an unwinnable war.
"The only way we can guarantee peace is to kill every last tribesman," one Pakistani general said to us. He was only half joking.
America's war
The US also accuses Pakistan of failing to stop the movement of Taleban fighters to Afghanistan from sanctuaries in Pakistan.
But it is true that policing a mountainous border 2,400 km (1,500 miles) long is an enormous challenge, especially when the Afghan government refuses to recognise the frontier.
"As long as it is the army that is leading the way... many Pakistanis will continue to see this as America's war"
"We can't do it," the same general told us. "The only way is to put up a sophisticated fencing system, and that's an international responsibility."
Pakistan does face a serious threat from Islamist militancy. But as long as it is the army that is leading the way, with little apparent support from the people, many Pakistanis will continue to see this as America's war.
That is why the army itself is advocating a debate in parliament, so the country can evolve its own policy.
Some (the real pessimists) say the only way to win crucial public backing for the battle against Islamist violence, is to de-link it from America's war in Afghanistan.
That seems impossible.
No matter how much the people here oppose America's Afghan policies, no Pakistani government or army can scupper the relationship with Washington. They depend too much on US assistance.
It is a fundamental contradiction that is fuelling tensions and explains why families feel proud that their soldier sons were martyred by Pakistan's most important ally.
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 19 July, 2008 at 1130 BST, on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Metal money

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:12:58 +0100

By Nick Davis
BBC News, Jamaica
There isbig money to be made in scrap metal in Jamaica.
The trade is an important source of foreign exchange for the country, worth $100m (Â£50m) last year.
But the thriving trade is starting to have an effect on the island's infrastructure as thieves cash in by cutting down telephone cables and uprooting underground water pipes.
For many people across the island, collecting metallic waste to sell has become a cottage industry.
Job opportunities here can be scarce, so for many it has been a good way to earn a living.
Most of the trade is based around Riverton, a poor inner-city community on the outskirts of the capital, Kingston.
The area is built on the edge of a landfill site, where refuse trucks thunder in and vehicles of every description drop off scrap metal to be weighed for export.
Bad reputation
My cab driver nervously asks which part of the dump I want. The place used to have a very bad reputation and in the minds of many that has not gone away.
The area is a hive of activity. Men and women, young and old separate the scrap into piles of steel, iron, copper, and a mystery metal everyone is calling loom. It takes me a few seconds to figure out that they mean aluminium.
Sacks that once held foodstuffs are now crammed with bits of twisted metal. The site is huge, the landfill stretches into the horizon and what appears to be a mountain in the shimmering heat of the distance is just part of the dump.
It is so big it straddles two parishes on the island.
Carl McLeod, an exporter of scrap metal,started work as a teenager on the dump and has made his fortune from it.
"Old things that people don't want. Old truck bodies, truck parts, iron. Put it this way, your garbage is my riches," he said.
The trade helped to clear up parts of the countryside, withdiscarded metal goods being swept up and sold.
Among objects which used to turn up at the yard were the giant copper kettles or boilers used for generations to process sugar cane. These are now becoming scarce.
Crime wave
And as demand for metal rises,some people are finding another way to get their hands on it - stealing it from the streets.
Howard Mollison, from the telecoms firm Cable and Wireless Jamaica, said that thefts of telephone cables were costing them cash and customers.
"We are pretty much aware that it's being sold as scrap metal which is shipped off to various destinations across the world," he said.
"Over the past year we have had more than 140 cases of cable theft which has cost more than $2m to restore the service."
As you drive along the roads of rural Jamaica, you often see cut cable hanging down from telephone posts. The disruption can mean months without service for some customers but when new wires go up they sometimes vanish before they have been fully installed.
Last October, the government stepped in to deal with the problem. It suspended all exports and drew up new rules, which required people in the industry to have export licenses.
The packing of containers was to be done in fenced-off areas and shipments supervised by customs officer.
Organised crime
At first the new measures seemed to work and there was a dramatic decrease in thefts. But in the last few months the number of incidents has risen again.
Even worse, criminals have become more organised, with heavy plant machinery being used to dig up sewage and water pipes.
Karl Samuda, Jamaica's trade minister, last month suspended exports,arguing that then thefts are hampering the island's economic development.
"It's just a matter of scrapping Jamaica - they are scrapping the country of its infrastructure and if nothing is done to curtail that we'll be left with no meaningful infrastructure made out of steel, copper or brass or anything that is attractive to the trade," he said.
Exports resumed last Tuesday but only by scrap yards that can show they are free of stolen metal.
In the past, customs inspections took place by the roadside. The metal would be separated and packed where it was dropped off. Now the government is pushing for central sites to be set up where containers can be packed in a more controlled environment.
Tense atmosphere
In such a deprived area like Riverton where jobs are scarce, working in the scrap metal trade is about the only option.
When business was good, I had hung out with a group of men who huddled in a hut made of scrap for shade. They talked about how things had changed for the better.
However, when I returned to the dump during the halt on exports things were a lot more tense. They spoke of the boredom and of the lack of cash that was making some say that if the jobs disappeared the violence could return.
"Please open it back up now because right now the youths are thinking about the gun and when the scrap metal goes on they don't get involved with the gangs," one of them told me. "They eat, drink and go to dances and there's no gun fire. It is scrap metal we live off."
Carl McLeod says traders have to stop buying stolen metal.
"I used to buy scrap metal but I don't buy it any more," he said. "I'm asking all the people in the industry, let's come together and rid the system of the illegal stuff going on. Money has been made already and there's still money to be made
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Shadow of war

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:42:44 +0100

By Swaminathan Natarajan
BBC Tamil service, eastern Sri Lanka
A year after troops overpowered Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels in Sri Lanka's eastern province and took control of the area, normality has yet to return.
The government called the victory the "dawn of the east" and held a nationwide celebration on 19 July 2007, days after the last rebel stronghold fell.
It announced a host of development measures, and in May this year provincial elections were held for the first time.
A leader of a breakaway group from the rebels was appointed chief minister after helping fight against the LTTE.
'Suspicion'
But a year on, troops are still just as visible in major cities, towns and even in villages in the east.

"I am scared the house may crumble - I am living with fear"
Kavita Malar

Military checkpoints and stop and search operations are aimed at preventing "infiltration" by the Tamil Tigers - locals say such massive troop deployments in civilian areas increase their feeling of insecurity.
"All those who got training from the LTTE went with them to northern areas. Yet the military views all Tamils with suspicion," says one resident of Batticaloa.
In some places the military are camped on private property. The army insist they pay compensation for using the land, but those affected say that is not the case.
Locals say many people have been randomly picked up for interrogation, on suspicion of having links with the Tamil Tigers.
Most are released after a day or two but some end up in prison.
"They arrested my son on suspicion that he might have received armed training from the LTTE. He has been in prison for the past seven months," says one man in the village of Echilampattu in Batticaloa district.
"All my efforts to bring him out have failed."
Refugees
Analysts believe the LTTE's intelligence wing and other elements continue to operate in the east - officials say that is why security needs to be so tight.
Since last summer violence has continued.
The chief secretary of the eastern province was assassinated last July and this May a naval transport ship was sunk in Trincomalee harbour, hours before the start of voting.
Tamil political parties backed by the LTTE boycotted the election.
The military's victory was achieved after months of heavy fighting resulting in huge human cost.
In many cases entire villages were abandoned. More than 200,000 people became internally displaced refugees.
According to the government, about 110,000 people have been resettled in Batticaloa district. Nearly 12,000 others are still waiting.
In the district of Trincomalee the picture is similar.
Internally displaced people living in the refugee camps say they lack basic facilities like toilets and clean drinking water.
Those who have been resettled say they have still to receive support from the government.
Most villagers in resettled areas now live without electricity. Many school buildings damaged or destroyed in the war are yet to be rebuilt.
In many places students sit under temporary shelters made asbestos.
"These sheets increase the intensity of the heat. As a result the students suffer from a number of health problems," one headmaster told the BBC.
Fear
Damage to property has been immense.
Many houses have been partly or totally damaged by different kinds of bombs, shells and bullets.
Kavita Malar, a young mother who lives with her daughter, received a house worth 300,000 Sri Lankan rupees (about $2,900) as compensation after the 2004 tsunami.
It was badly damaged in the fighting, with some holes created by shells big enough to allow a dog to pass through.
"This house is not stable. Whenever there are strong winds I leave my house and go to my father's house which is nearby," she says.
"I am scared the house may crumble - I am living with fear."
According to the chief minister of the eastern province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanth (better known as Pillaiyan), 130,000 houses are totally or partly damaged.
He says the government has plans to repair and rebuild all these houses and to complete the rehabilitation work in the next 18 months.
The government is giving 325,000 rupees (about $3,000) to rebuild completely ruined houses.
But there is a widespread perception that not many in need actually receive this financial help.
Sri Lanka's disaster and resettlement minister, Abdul Risath Bathiyutheen, told the BBC that $80m from the World Bank and $40m from the European Union had been used to build houses in areas affected by war.
He added that talks were continuing to secure a further $43m from the World Bank. Yet he is not sure how many houses are being built.
"There are a number of ministries and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) doing this work. So it is not possible to give an exact figure."
A senior official from a local NGO says continuing insecurity is the major obstacle in the development process.
"Fear of return of war prevails among the aid donors and it is preventing the flow of funds for large housing construction plans," he says.
Hearts and minds
Apart from housing, fishing was also badly hit.
Villages dotting the eastern coast were battered by the tsunami in December 2004 and most of the relief work since then has been undone by the war.
Kantaiya Padmanahban is a fisherman from Vaharai in Batticaloa district whose mother died during the tsunami.
He was given a new boat by an NGO but war erupted when he was rebuilding his life. He abandoned the boat and ran away.
When he came back after a year in various refugee camps, his home was damaged and his boat was completely destroyed.
"A shell might have fallen on top of it - a direct hit might have destroyed my boat. They have not given me any compensation to buy a new boat, nets etc, I have no work to do," he says.
In some places the government has built roads and hospitals. But the operation to win hearts and minds, it seems, has a long way to go
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Argentina drops disputed farm tax

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:19:27 +0100

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has cancelled controversial tax increases on agricultural exports, which sparked months of protests.
Export levies will return to the fixed rates that existed before March, said cabinet chief Alberto Fernandez.
The Senate had narrowly rejected the government's proposals in a vote following more than 16 hours of debate.
Farmers said the taxes would be crippling, but the government said they were needed to fight poverty.
The tax on farm exports was intended to fund the building of schools, roads and hospitals but strikes by farmers led to food shortages in some parts of the country and a political crisis.
The BBC's Daniel Schweimler in Buenos Aires says that the president had little choice but to scrap the tax increases following the dramatic Senate vote on Thursday.
Senators were tied 36 to 36 after more than 16 hours of debate, until the Vice-President, Julio Cobos, cast the deciding vote to reject his government's proposals.
Our correspondent says it is the first sign of any weakness or backwards step shown by the government, which is often criticised for its intransigence.
Argentina's farmers are delighted by the move, our correspondent adds.
'A hungry world'
Argentina is a major producer of soya, grains and beef, which fetch high prices on international markets.
The dispute between the government and farmers began in March, when President Fernandez's government raised taxes on soya exports from 35% to 45%, and imposed new taxes on other farm exports.
The government argued that they needed to raise taxes on agricultural exports to help build a new Argentina.
It said farmers could afford to pay more, as they were benefiting from high prices.
The authorities also accused farmers and their supporters of undermining democracy by refusing to respect the wishes of the elected government.
However, farmers' leaders said that any profits needed to be reinvested so that Argentina, one of the world's leading agricultural producers, could help to feed a hungry world.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

Week in pictures

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:10:29 +0100
Striking images from around the world this week
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

EU hits Intel with fresh charges

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:14:18 +0100

European regulators have filed fresh charges against the world's biggest computer chip maker Intel over alleged abuse of its dominant market position.
The European Commission (EC) accused the firm of paying a leading European retailer not to stock products containing chips made by rival AMD.
It is also accused of giving incentives to PC makers to switch to Intel chips.
Intel, which has eight weeks to respond to the allegations, said it was disappointed with the EC's claims.
The Commission has also accused Intel of paying the PC maker to delay the planned launch of a product containing AMD chips.
'Considerable muscle'
The EC said Intel "used its considerable muscle to provide substantial rebates to a leading European PC retailer - conditional on it selling only Intel-based PCs".
Intel said in a statement it was disappointed with the Commission's claims.
"The issuance of a second Statement of Objections suggests that the Commission supports AMD's position that Intel should be prevented from competing fairly and offering price discounts which have resulted in lower prices for consumers."
Intel added that "the allegations stem from the same set of complaints that our competitor, AMD, has been making to regulators and courts around the world for more than 10 years".
The company has eight weeks to respond to the Commission's three new charges and can seek a hearing in Brussels.
Rebates
It is not the first row between the US technology firm and regulators in Brussels.
In February, EU officials raided Intel's German office amid claims it abused its market position.
Last summer, the Commission unveiled the initial results of a probe that claimed Intel engaged in anti-competitive action to thwart AMD.
Brussels accused the world's largest chipmaker of giving rebates to customers provided they bought Intel products and offered incentives to companies to delay or cancel products containing AMD technology.
European regulators have the power to fine Intel up to 10% of annual turnover if they find it guilty of stifling competition
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation