Pakistan human rights worker Khalid Khawaja found dead

The body of a Pakistani human rights activist has been found in the North Waziristan tribal area, weeks after he was reportedly kidnapped by militants.

Officials said Khalid Khawaja's body was found in a ditch near the town of Mir Ali on Friday afternoon. He had been shot in the head and chest.




A note attached to the body claimed that Mr Khawaja - a former Pakistani intelligence officer - was a US agent.


It said that if "someone tries to spy for America this will be his fate".
Mr Khawaja, along with two other men, had been missing for several weeks after traveling into North Waziristan.

A group calling itself the Asian Tigers later said it had kidnapped all three.
The The group is thought to be a front for the Pakistani Taliban, who in effect control most of the Waziristan tribal region.

A video was released of Mr Khawaja before his death in which he was seen confessing that he was a CIA and Pakistani agent.

His captors had been demanding a ransom and the release of Taliban militants in exchange for the release of the men.

In recent years Mr Khawaja had campaigned for the release of dozens of people who have allegedly been taken into unofficial custody in Pakistan.

Oil spill sparks new drilling ban

The US administration has banned oil drilling in new areas of the US coast while the cause of the oil spill off Louisiana is investigated.

White House adviser David Axelrod told that they wanted to know exactly what led to last week's explosion on the BP-operated rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Last month President Barack Obama eased a moratorium on new offshore drilling.
Up to 5,000 barrels of oil a day are thought to be spilling into the water, threatening US coastal areas.



The slick has begun to reach the Louisiana shore, and the US Navy has been sent to help avert an economic and environmental disaster.


Mr Axelrod announced the ban on drilling in new areas in an interview Good Morning America programme on Friday.

He also defended the administration's response to the 20 April explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig, saying "we had the coast guard in almost immediately".

The US government has designated the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as an "incident of national significance". This allows it to draw on resources from across the country.

The wetlands off the Louisiana coast sustain hundreds of wildlife species and a big seafood and fishing industry.

Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency and asked for federal funds to deploy 6,000 National Guard soldiers to help with the clean-up.


The US Coast Guard said it had sent investigators to confirm whether crude oil had begun to wash up on parts of the Louisiana shoreline.

Cdr Mark McCadden, of the coast guard, told the BBC they were using all resources available.
"We're putting everything forth in plans for a worst-case scenario," he said.


"We can always ramp back on some of those resources, but right now the priority is to bring as many resources as are available to attack this spill and try to minimise the effects to the coast and to the public."

Two US Air Force planes have been sent to Mississippi in case they are needed to spray oil-dispersing chemicals over the slick.

David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration described the oil spill as a "very, very big thing".

The clean-up efforts could be "mind-boggling", he told the Associated Press news agency.


The Louisiana coastline, with its rich shrimp and oyster beds, is the most threatened by the spill.
A group of Louisiana shrimpers has already filed a lawsuit against BP and the owners of the rig, Transocean.
Richard Arsenault, a lawyer for the group, told that,he was surprised that such a modern rig couldn't prevent the spill.

"This is a rig that is valued at some $700m. It's state of the art... and it is just incredible that with that kind of technology this kind of problem... was not prevented."

He added: "The harm right now to the fishing industry and to the economic sector is just almost incalculable."
There are also fears of severe damage to fisheries and wildlife in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida as oil continues to escape from the wreckage of the rig.

An emergency shrimping season was opened on Thursday to allow fishermen to bring in their catch before it was fouled by the advancing oil.

Navy vessels are helping to deploy booms to contain the spill.
President Obama has dispatched high-level administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, to the area.

He said they would "ensure that BP and the entire US government is doing everything possible, not just to respond to this incident, but also to determine its cause".

Speaking at the White House, Mr Obama also said: "While BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and clean-up operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal, including potentially the Department of Defence, to address the incident."

Eleven workers are still missing, presumed dead, after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on 20 April.
BP's chief operating officer of exploration and production, Doug Suttles, said the company was using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to try to find out how much oil was leaking into the sea.
"This is very, very difficult to estimate," Mr Suttles told reporters.

"Down below the surface we actually can't meter this oil so we can just observe it... what our ROV pictures show to us on the sea floor hasn't changed since we first saw the leak... but what we can say based on what we're picking up on the surface it looks like it is more."

Mr Suttles put the oil leakage at between 1,000 and 5,000 barrels a day.

Five children hurt in fresh attack on school in China

Five young children have been hurt at a school in north-eastern China after a man attacked them with a hammer before killing himself.

It was the third such incident in China in as many days.
The man, said to be a local farmer, grabbed two children before setting himself on fire at the pre-school in Shandong province's Weifang city.



The children were pulled to safety, and all five - plus an injured teacher - were said to be stable in hospital.
China is reeling from a spate of apparent copy-cat attacks in schools.


On Thursday, 28 children - most of them aged around four - and three adults were attacked by an unemployed man wielding a knife at a nursery school in Jiangsu province, eastern China. Five of the children were taken to hospital in a critical condition.

And a day earlier, some 15 pupils and a teacher were wounded by a former teacher - who was on sick leave - at their primary school in Guangdong province.


Earlier on Wednesday, a doctor convicted of stabbing eight children to death in Fujian province in March was executed.


Friday's attacker was a local farmer identified as Wang Yonglai, Xinhua news agency reports.

He used a motorcycle to break down the gates in to Shangzhuang primary school, striking a teacher who tried to stop him and then turning the hammer on the children.

He grabbed two of the children before dousing himself in petrol and setting himself alight. Teachers seized the two children from him in time.

The motive of the attack is not yet known.
The attacks are unsettling in a country where such violent attacks are rare.
Since a spate of attacks in 2004, many schools in China have employed professional guards but the latest incidents have led to public calls for increased security in schools.

The education ministry ordered all schools to upgrade their security facilities earlier this month, as well as teach students about safety and ensure young children are escorted home, state media has reported.

But such measures are expensive, says our correspondent, and in reality there is little that can be done to prevent such acts of violence.

The incidents have also sparked a debate about the motives of the killers, with some suggesting that rapid social change and growing unemployment has led to an increase in psychiatric illnesses.

Ghost estates testify to Irish boom and bust

David McWilliams is the man who coined the phrase "ghost estate" when he wrote about the first signs of a disastrous over-build in Ireland back in 2006.

Now, it is a concept the whole country is depressingly familiar with. Most Irish people have one on their doorstep - an ugly reminder, says the economist and broadcaster, of wounded national pride.


"Emotionally, we have all taken a battering," he says. "Like every infectious virus, the housing boom got into our pores. You could feel it.

"You'd go to the pub and people would be talking about what house they'd bought. And now a lot of people, myself included, think 'God, we were conned'."


Mr McWilliams paints Ireland's history as one of "economic failure".
"So to have risen so quickly and seemingly in the right direction and then to have that pulled away from us," he says, "it's more of an emotional thing than a financial thing."

There are 621 ghost estates across Ireland now, a legacy of those hopeful years. One in five Irish homes is unoccupied.

If the country immediately used them to house every person on the social housing list, there would still be hundreds of thousands left over.

The obvious question of who people imagined would live in all these new-builds makes Irish people wince now.

But hindsight is a wonderful thing. Only a few years ago, developers feeding money into local government coffers were getting free rein to build row upon row of five-bedroom detached houses on the green outskirts of towns nobody had even thought of commuting from before.

Banks were throwing money at members of the public who saw these houses either as an escape to a better lifestyle or an investment route to riches.


Builders from eastern Europe were working overtime to create homes, the value of which was sometimes three times what it is now.

 As the slump set in, the immigrant workers went back home, the banks ceased lending on the scale that had fuelled the frenzy and the market disappeared.

Property supply had become completely divorced from property demand.
County Leitrim alone would have needed about 590 new houses between 2006 and 2009 to accommodate its population growth. It got 2,945.

The resulting mess is currently being addressed by a nationwide audit of empty and unfinished housing.
It has raised eyebrows that precise numbers are not already clear, even to the local councils who gave planning permission for the homes in the first place.


Ciaran Cuffe is the Green Party minister of state in charge of the audit.
"It's one heck of a challenge", he says, "because we have the legacy of many years of poor planning, and an economy that was overheated, paid far too much attention to construction and was more interested in the quantity than the quality of homes".

He says Ireland's perceived wealth was part of the problem.
"I think there was a view that demand would continue indefinitely at a time when we had very high levels of immigration.

"People thought the housing was needed not only for the people of Ireland but also for others that had come here, and that this golden goose would continue to lay golden eggs for ever."

Nobody expects the majority of Ireland's surplus new housing simply to be ploughed down by the bulldozers now.

But Mr Cuffe admits some of the recent headlines in the Irish press on the subject are not completely wide of the mark.

"I certainly think demolition could be part of the solution in cases where we have housing estates that are unoccupied, that are miles away from where people want to live and that were badly built in the first place."
And indeed, many of Ireland's ghost estates are in the unlikeliest, most isolated places.

It is strange, looking down vast rows of immaculate new-builds, taking in their optimistically-planted front gardens and peering through curtain-less windows into unwanted granite-topped fitted kitchens, to comprehend the fact that they might never be occupied.

Mr McWilliams says the whole of Ireland is having to come to terms with what he compares to a collective addiction.

"Everyone took the property drug at the same time", he says, "everyone was up at the same time, everyone was buzzing.


"Now we are all in the middle of this huge comedown. And people are looking around and saying - 'what happened? Was that us?' And then we look at our bank statements and we realize - 'yes, it was'".

China opens World Expo 2010 in Shanghai

 The 2010 World Expo has opened in the city of Shanghai in what China hopes will be further proof of its rising global influence.

Almost 250 countries and international organizations are showcasing their culture in an event themed around sustainable development.


Many are doing so in pavilions with radical architecture.
World leaders, including France's President Sarkozy, are attending the lavish opening ceremony.
"Expo 2010 Shanghai is now open!" Chinese President Hu Jintao declared during the gala opening, in which 2,300 performers and musicians from all over the world took part.

They were celebrating the Expo slogan: "Better city, better life in music and dance".
Tens of thousands of fireworks and lasers then lit up the city's riverfront - in what organizers promised would be the biggest-ever multimedia event.


Some 70 million visitors - mostly Chinese - are expected to visit the Expo, which will be open for the next six months.

Chinese local media report that the cost of staging the event could be as much as $58bn (£38bn) - more than was spent on the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Some estimates say this figure could eventually be even higher.
Shanghai has increased security measures drastically in preparation for the event.

An additional 8,000 police officers have been brought in to help Shanghai's 46,000-strong police force to patrol the city, Chinese state media says.


Residents living near the Expo site have complained about oppressive security measures.
"It's just not convenient to get in and out any more," Dong, a local resident, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Markets have been closed down to build Expo car parks, he added.
Six people who protested about having their homes destroyed to make room for the Expo have been sent to labour camps, the Hong-Kong based Chinese Human Rights Defenders were quoted as saying by AP.

Last week police seized four computers belonging to activist Feng Zhenghu, who had been trying to set up an alternative online Expo, highlighting alleged miscarriages of justice, our correspondent says.

The Expo is seen as an opportunity for countries to try to win favor with the Chinese, he adds.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, President Sarkozy - whose relationship with China has been testy after he criticized a Chinese security crackdown in Tibet in 2008 - said France and China would "think and work together".

Election 2010, A dozen things to watch for in final TV debate

Two down, one to go. Thursday's third and final election debate is important.
It is the closest to polling day and will be watched by many people who have yet to decide how to vote.
What the three party leaders say and how they perform will influence the decision that these voters make. In other words, this debate could make all the difference. At the same time, the nation will be transfixed as Gordon Brown eats humble pie - again - for being rude about a woman, Gillian Duffy, who has fast become the media's favourite granny. It will be excruciating.
Here are a few general thoughts:
1. Duffygate - or bigotgate - will hang over the debate but will not dominate it.
Gordon Brown will have to deal with the encounter but Messrs Cameron and Clegg will be quite happy to let him squirm without being seen to add to his distress. They know how easily the taunting of Mr Brown over bullying allegations and ill-scripted condolence letters engendered public sympathy rather than opprobrium.
2. The novelty factor will be less salient this time.
The first debate was historic and its outcome utterly unpredicted. The second, though, was less surprising. So there might be less focus on the body language, the format, the clothes, and perhaps a little more on what the leaders actually say.
3. The debate is important because the subject is the economy, arguably the most significant policy issue of the election.
Many voters will want the leaders to cut to the chase. All three will be asked what must now be known as the Institute for Fiscal Studies question: namely, what are you going to cut and when? They will not answer to the satisfaction of some. There will be an inconclusive debate about the dangers of a Greek-style financial meltdown taking place in Britain.
4. This is Gordon Brown's last chance to get Labour's campaign back on track.
The economy is his strongest card. This is his moment to seek redemption. He will argue that public spending must be maintained this year to protect the recovery and that government must intervene to support new industries. He has to hope that voters think his plans for the economy are more important than the sincerity of his penitence.
5. Voters who have been impressed by Nick Clegg will watch and consider whether they should now vote for him as well.
The Lib Dem leader needs to maintain momentum into the last week of campaigning. Many voters told the opinion pollsters after the first two debates that they liked the cut of his jib. Mr Clegg's task now is to persuade those people that they should stick with him and give them their vote - without appearing as if he was taking them for granted. He has admitted already that voters will be more "demanding" this time around.
6. Nick Clegg will have to clear up what he would do in a hung parliament.
He said initially that he would not support Labour if it won most seats but had fewer votes than the Lib Dems or Tories. He then suggested that he might support Labour in those circumstances - but only if the party ditched Gordon Brown. He then pulled back a bit and said he would work with the man on the moon if he delivered greater fairness. David Cameron will push him hard on this, claiming that if you vote Clegg, you could get Brown. The Tory leader will also try to warn voters that a hung parliament might not be the utopia of congenial co-operation that many seem to think it will be.
7. This is David Cameron's last chance to try to explain what he means by a "big society".
It is a radical programme that would in theory transform huge swathes of public life but many voters are still struggling to understand what the phrase means. His challenge is to boil it all down into something that makes an impact and excites the public as much as the policy wonks. This is a tough ask in the context of a debate.
8. Immigration has come up in the previous two debates and Gillian Duffy has ensured that it will come up again.
This will not help Gordon Brown. He will have to persuade voters that it is not bigoted to be concerned about immigration, despite what he said about Mrs Duffy. Nor will it help Nick Clegg. He has appeared vulnerable at times when explaining his policy of granting an amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who have been in the country for more than ten years and speak good English.
9. Gordon Brown will have spent less time preparing than he would have liked.
An unexpected trip to Rochdale will have eaten into some of his prep-time. Maybe there will be fewer rehearsed lines. This could help rather than hinder.
10. David Cameron and Nick Clegg will be tempted to try some unfunny gags about Peppa Pig.
These will be incomprehensible to millions of voters who do not have young children or who did not catch Labour's clumsy attempt earlier this week to inveigle the children's television character into their campaign.
11. How many people will watch?
Nine million people tuned in for the first debate, some four million for the second. This time around, there is a clash with Coronation Street on the other side. Who watches what will perhaps tell us a little about the state of British politics.
12.A member of the audience may be tempted to break their silence.
This is the third debate. It is the last before polling. People are getting used to the format. The ban on audience response is clearly frustrating. The temptation to clap or disagree noisily must be huge. Will anyone have the guts to break the rules?

Pakistan Taliban militants 'reappear' in Swat valley

Taliban militants have resumed targeted killings of local leaders in Pakistan's troubled Swat valley, officials have told.

Pakistan's army declared the Swat valley free of militants after carrying out an anti-Taliban operation in 2009.
A Pakistani army spokesman said three people had died in attacks over the last 10 days. Local journalists say that seven have died in 15 days.


The militants were effectively in control of the region from 2007.
In 2009, they started to expand their power across North West Frontier Province, prompting the army to launch its offensive.


"There have been three incidents of targeted killings," Col Akhtar Abbas, head of the army public relations in Swat, told.
 
"But these incidents do not mean that the Taliban can return in any organized form to the Swat valley. The army is confident of this."

Some of those killed are members of a local peace committee, which is supported by the military.
Col Abbas said that the militants involved in the attacks "have been dealt with".
"We carried out an operation after a tip-off and killed the four of them," he said.
However, there are differing accounts of the incidents.

Several local people said at least one militant had escaped after a prolonged gun battle.
They say that fears remain about the level of security provided by the army.
"Things have not improved and business is not good," said a local restaurant owner known as Mr Khalid.
"We cannot even imagine that tourists will come here.

"How can things be better if there are still suicide bombings and people are being killed every few days?"
But despite these concerns, conditions have improved considerably in Swat since the military operation ended in July 2009.

Hotels and businesses are slowly starting to re-open.
But fear and uncertainty - heightened by the recent killings - still prevail.

Nigerian senator Sani denies marrying girl of 13

A Nigerian senator accused of marrying a 13-year-old Egyptian girl says he has done nothing wrong.

Ahmad Sani Yerima, 49, told that his fourth wife was not 13, but would not say how old she was.

He denied breaking the law but said he would not respect any law that contradicted his religious beliefs.


The Nigerian senate ordered an investigation after complaints from women's groups but the senator said he did not care what the groups thought.


Mr Sani was the governor of Zamfara state, where he oversaw the introduction of Sharia law - for the first time in a northern state - in 1999.

He said he felt it was this that was behind the uproar over his marriage.
"I consider all those complaining about this issue as detractors, because since 1999... many people have been waging different kind of wars against me," he told that Hausa Service by telephone from Egypt.
The senator said he had followed "standard rules for marriage in Islam".

"I don't care about the issue of age since I have not violated any rule as far as Islam is concerned," he said.
"History tells us that Prophet Muhammad did marry a young girl as well. Therefore I have not contravened any law. Even if she is 13, as it is being falsely peddled around.

"If I state the age, they will still use it to smear Islam," he said.
Newspaper reports of the marriage have created a storm among human rights groups.

Female senators - lawyers and doctors - who are protesting say that they fear for the child's health.
"What we are concerned with is that our minors, the girl child, should be allowed to mature, before going into marriage," Mma Wokocha, president of the Women's Medical Association and one of those behind a petition, told.


"This very evil act should not be seen to be perpetrated by one of our distinguished legislators... that is what we are saying.''

The senator is reported to have paid a dowry of $100,000 (£66,000) to the child's parents - and to have brought the girl into Nigeria from Egypt.

The women's groups want Mr Sani to be taken to court, to face a fine and a jail sentence.
They say he has contravened the Child Rights Act of 2003 which, although not ratified by all Nigeria's 36 states, is law in the capital where he lives and his marriage is believed to have taken place.

"As a Muslim, as I always say, I consider God's law and that of his prophet above any other law," Mr Sani said.


"I will not respect any law that contradicts that and whoever wants to sanction me for that is free to do that."
Newspaper reports have also accused the senator of having previously married a 15-year-old girl in 2006.

Brown sorry for 'bigoted woman' gaffe

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown described himself as a "penitent sinner" on Wednesday after personally apologizing to a voter he described as a "bigoted woman."

Brown visited the home of Gillian Duffy in Rochdale, northwestern England, after he was caught on microphone describing in blunt terms his encounter with the 65-year-old widow whom he met on the election campaign trail.

The Labour party leader had had a discussion with Duffy about the size of Britain's national debt, tax and immigration.

Brown then got into his car and was driven away but he was still wearing a radio microphone, allowing broadcasters to pick up his conversation with an aide.

"That was a disaster," Brown said about the encounter seconds earlier. "Should never have put me with that woman -- whose idea was that?" He added: "She was just a sort of bigoted woman."

The woman, Gillian Duffy, told reporters she wanted an apology from Brown over his "very upsetting" comments.

Brown later visited Duffy at her home, emerging to tell reporters: "I am mortified by what has happened. I have given her my sincere apologies. I misunderstood what she said. She has accepted that there was a misunderstanding and she has accepted my apology.

"If you like, I am a penitent sinner."
The encounter was immediately seized on by users of social networking sites, with opinions polarized between those who said it would damage Labour in the May 6 general election and those who believed it could help the party, currently trailing the opposition Conservatives in opinion polls.

One Twitter user, Thermalsocks, said: "Gordon Brown has created a total surveillance society. Glad to see he got caught out, now he knows how we all feel."

Another user, urbantaoist85, said: "Anyone else up for making all politicians wear a microphone at all times?" Ririnyan added: "I wonder if that was the final nail in the coffin for Labour this time." Andy_Francis said: "I think GB has just kissed goodbye to any chances Labour had left."


However CupCate wrote: "I'd be more concerned if Brown had said, "What that brilliant woman said about all those damn immigrants, too right!"

After his public apology, Brown telephoned Duffy to apologize personally. The prime minister's spokesman said: "Gordon has apologized to Mrs. Duffy personally by phone. He does not think that she is bigoted.
"He was letting off steam in the car after a difficult conversation. But this is exactly the sort of conversation that is important in an election campaign and which he will continue to have with voters."

Asked about Brown's comments, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who has surged in the opinion polls following his appearance in the televised election debates with the other two leaders, told the Press Association: "You should always try to answer the questions as best you can."

He added: "He has been recorded saying what he has said and will have to answer for that."

But one Twitter user, SusanCalman, spoke for many when she said: "I feel sorry for Gordon Brown. If people I've met knew half the things I'd said about them when I left I would be stabbed and left for dead."

China executes killer of eight school children

A former community doctor who killed eight school children in China's eastern Fujian province has been executed, state media say.

Zheng Minsheng, 42, was shot in the city of Nanping after China's top court approved his sentence, Xinhua news agency reported.

The execution came one month after he stabbed eight young children to death at a primary school in the same city.


Police said he carried out the attack after breaking up with a girlfriend.
Reports at the time of the attack had suggested he had a history of mental illness, but state media later quoted police as saying that was not the case.


Five other children were injured in the 23 March attack.
Zheng was convicted on 8 April and had appealed unsuccessfully against his death sentence.

iPhone blogger has computers seized by police

Police in California have seized computers belonging to the editor of a gadget blog which was involved in the purchase of an iPhone prototype.

Gizmodo had admitted it paid $5,000 to an unnamed individual for the next generation device, which was reportedly left in a bar by an Apple employee.



Editor Jason Chen published photographs and videos of the phone last week.
Gizmodo may have violated a California law covering the appropriation of stolen property for personal benefit.

The phone was lost by 27-year-old Apple software engineer Gray Powell.
Mr Chen told newswire AFP that he and his wife returned from having dinner on Friday night to find police searching their home.


"The officers had a computer and were cataloguing all the items they took from my house. They told me they were here for a few hours already and had to break the front door open because I wasn't at home," he said.
The technology blog published the search warrant documents online and said they state that the computer and other devices may have been used to commit a felony.

Apple wrote to Gizmodo last week asking it to return the prototype handset, which it complied with.
It had already published details of the next-generation iPhone, which is expected to be unveiled later this year.
According to Gizmodo, new features include a front-facing video camera and an improved camera with larger lens and a flash. It is also thinner and has improved battery life.


Critics argue that Gizmodo has committed a crime because it knowingly handled stolen goods and point out that there are clear laws about what to do with found property.

Gizmodo is owned by Gawker Media and its chief operating officer, Gaby Darbyshire, said it expected the immediate return of Mr Chen's computers and servers.

"Under both state and federal law, a search warrant may not be validly issued to confiscate the property of a journalist," she wrote in a letter to San Mateo County authorities on Saturday.

"It is abundantly clear under the law that a search warrant to remove these items was invalid. The appropriate method of obtaining such materials would be the issuance of a subpoena," said Ms. Darbyshire.


Gawker Media said the issue now throws into question whether or not bloggers are considered journalists under the law.

Advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which is following the case, said it found the latest events worrying for two reasons.

"You have a reporter who is disseminating newsworthy information to the public that are supposed to be protected from search and seizures. These protections apply to people who collect information in order to report it to the public regardless of what name you slap on them; blogger, journalist or whatever," Jennifer Ganick, the EFFs civil liberties director told.

The second issue the EFF is concerned about is if police officers are doing the investigative work of a private company.

"If there was some offence here it is not apparent what it is", she said.
The raids were conducted by the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (React), a Californian computer crime taskforce.

The taskforce was set up on 1997 to address the rising problem of computer fraud and identity theft.
It works closely with the computer industry and Apple is reported to be one of 25 tech firms to sit on the steering committee.

Nokia launches first open source Symbian phone

The first handset to use the Symbian operating system since it became open source has been announced by Nokia.

The N8 phone has a 12 megapixel camera and allows people to record and edit High Definition video clips, as well as watch web TV services.


Analysts said the phone was a "pivotal device" in efforts "to make Nokia's high end phones credible again".

It is also a chance for Symbian to prove itself alongside Google's Android operating system and Apple's iPhone.

Despite being the world's most popular smart phone software, Symbian has lost "mindshare" against more high-profile software, according to industry experts.

Analysts at CCS Insight described the Symbian 3 software as "evolutionary not revolutionary" but said it was a "key first step if it proves reliable".
Cinema support
It is the first version of the software since the Symbian foundation announced that it had made its code open source in February.

The Foundation - which includes Nokia, Motorola and Samsung amongst others - gave away the code to developers for free in the hope that it would help speed up the pace of improvements. Any organisation or individual can now use and modify it.


The software in the N8 allows the phone to have multi-touch and multi-tasking, meaning more than one application can be open at any one time.

The device will be Nokia's flagship smartphone. It can be plugged into home theatres and supports surround sound as well as high-quality video.

Social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, can be displayed on the home screen in a single application.
Lee Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation, said he was "stoked" that Nokia had chosen to use the operating system on its phone.

The phone will ship in the third quarter of 2010, following delays.

Dating by blood type in Japan

People in most parts of the world do not think about their blood group much, unless they have an operation or an accident and need a transfusion.

But in Japan, whether someone is A, B, O or AB is a topic of everyday conversation.

There is a widespread belief that blood type determines personality, with implications for life, work and love.

It is Saturday night and a speed dating session is under way in a small building in the backstreets of Tokyo.


Men and women are sitting nervously at tables hoping to find that special someone.

The room is brightly painted in red and white, the staff upbeat and enthusiastic, but the conversations are rather stilted.

The couples have just a few minutes to try to sound each other out before a bell rings and they have to move on to the next lonely single.

It is a scene repeated in cities across the world but this speed dating session in Japan has a twist.
It is for women who want to meet men with blood group A or AB.

One says she decided to narrow down her search for a boyfriend after a bad experience with a man with type B.

"Looking back it seems trivial," she said. "But I couldn't help getting annoyed by how disorganized he was."
"I really would like someone with type A blood," added her friend. "My image is of someone who is down to earth, something like that."



Interest in blood type is widespread in Japan, particularly which combinations are best for romance.

Women's magazines run scores of articles on the subject, which has also inspired best-selling self-help books.
The received wisdom is that As are dependable and self sacrificing, but reserved and prone to worry.
Decisive and confident - that is people with type O.

ABs are well balanced, clear-sighted and logical, but also high-maintenance and distant.
The black sheep though seem to be blood group B - flamboyant free-thinkers, but selfish.
"At the interview for my first job they asked me about my blood type," said a man with blood group B, who wanted to identify himself only as Kouichi.

"The surprise was written on my face. Why? It turned out the company president really cared. She'd obviously had a bad experience with a B type blood person. But somehow I got the job anyway."

Later, though, the issue of his blood came up again.
"The president was the kind of person who couldn't take her drink and at one company party she got drunk. So she sent B people home before the others. 'You are blood type B,' she said. 'Get out.'"

There is even a term for such behavior in Japan, burahara, which translates as blood group harassment.
The preoccupation with blood ultimately dates back to theories of eugenics during the inter-war years.

One study compared the blood of people in Taiwan, who had rebelled against Japanese colonial rule, with the Ainu from Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, thought to be more peaceable.
Stripped of its racial overtones, the idea emerged again in the 1970s.

Now, blood typecasting is as common as horoscopes in the West, with the whiff of science - although dubious - giving it added credibility.

Some firms organize work teams by blood type to try to ensure office harmony.
And people going on a date or meeting someone for the first time are liable to be asked: "What is your blood group?"

"This particular thing about blood types is a clever way of telling people what you think about them, but indirectly," said Jeff Kingston, professor of Asian Studies at Temple University in Japan
.
"Here people don't like to be upfront and open about their opinions. So if you can hide behind blood types you can then tell someone indirectly what you think about them."

Scientists regularly debunk the blood group theory but it retains its hold - some believe because, in a largely homogenous society, it provides an easy framework to divide people up into easily recognizable groups.

The last Prime Minister, Taro Aso, even put the fact that he was a type A in his official profile on the internet.
If he had hoped that having a favored blood group would give him a boost at the polls he was disappointed.
When the election came around, he lost.

Fists fly in Ukraine parliament punch up

Lawmakers in Ukraine scuffled with each other, throwing punches and eggs, as parliament met Tuesday to ratify a treaty with Russia that extends the latter's navy presence in the Ukraine's Crimean peninsula until 2042.
The ruling Regions party eventually ratified the treaty but not before howls of protest from the opposition.
Someone set off a smoke bomb inside the building, while Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn sought refuge behind an umbrella as he was pelted with eggs.
During a rally attended by thousands on Saturday, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko -- the former prime minister who lost to Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential election run-off in February -- said the ratification must be prevented at all costs.
She claimed that Yanukovych is "selling out" Ukraine, has "openly embarked on the path of destruction of (Ukraine's) national interests, and has actually begun the process of eliminating the state's sovereignty."
The deal was signed last week by Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Tymoshenko said it violated part of the Ukrainian Constitution, which forbids the country from hosting foreign military bases after 2017.
The deal extends Russia's lease of a major naval base in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol for an additional 25 years, in exchange for a 30 percent cut in the price of natural gas that Russia sells to Ukraine.
The agreement may bring an end to years of disputes over natural gas prices, which culminated in Russia turning off the pipeline to Ukraine.
The dispute affected not only Ukrainians, but many Europeans who depend on Russian gas pumped through Ukraine.
The two countries had been at odds ever since the "Orange Revolution" swept Yanukovych's fiercely anti-Russian predecessor Viktor Yushchenko to power in 2005.
Throughout his time in office, Yushchenko repeatedly threatened to expel Russia's Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol. The Russian military lease there was scheduled to expire in 2017.
Yanukovych said the new deal added a "concrete and pragmatic dimension" to centuries of relations between Ukrainians and Russians.

Opposition groups in Ukraine, however, were quick to denounce the agreement. Yuschenko's "Our Ukraine" party said the treaty would lead to the "Russification" of Ukraine.

Indian diplomat suspected of spying for Pakistan

India suspects one of its diplomats in Pakistan has been spying for Pakistani intelligence, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said Tuesday.


"The matter is currently under investigation. The official is cooperating with our inquiries," the ministry's official spokesperson said in a statement.

Indian media are reporting that the diplomat has been arrested. The Ministry of External Affairs did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The announcement came as representatives of the two rivals prepared to talk on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meeting in Bhutan.

India and Pakistan have been at odds since they became independent in 1947. They have fought several wars and engaged in a nuclear arms race that ended with both countries having nuclear bombs.

Muslim swimsuits bare little on Turkish catwalks

Hair driers blast air and racks of clothing clatter past as organizers make their final preparations for a fashion show.


Some of the backstage bustle is downright comical. Short Turkish women, carefully wrapped up in trench-coats and brightly-colored Muslim headscarves, struggle to help towering, leggy models from Slavic and Latin countries change in and out of outfits.

This is not your typical fashion show. The show is highlighting Islamic women's clothing -- even though very few of the models working here are Muslim.

"Listen, I'm coming from Venezuela [where] we are always walking in shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops. Not afraid to show it. But here it's totally different," said Cristina Buderacky, a model who stood more then six feet tall in a peach-colored lycra outfit that resembled a pair of long-sleeved pyjamas with blousy trousers.

She later made a half-serious plea for help as a Turkish woman slipped a two-piece "bonnet" over her head. The headpiece tightly covered Buderacky's hair, leaving only her neck and face exposed.

Nearby, a Russian-speaking model dressed in a sky-blue version of the same outfit whispered to a friend, "I look like a clown."

Moments later, to the soundtrack of throbbing dance music, the women strutted across the stage dressed in an array of these pastel-colored costumes. The costumes are part of a swimsuit collection.

Known as Hasema after the Turkish company that manufactures them, the full-body suits are designed to let conservative women swim and exercise at the beach or pool without being too revealing.

Turan Kisa, an export marketer for Hasema, said the suits are exported to 35 countries.

"Muslim women are choosing these models," he said holding up a sequin-embroidered lilac-colored full-body bathing suit. "Especially the last five years, Muslim women [are] really following fashion."

According to the manufacturers at this trade show, the Islamic women's fashion industry is growing and evolving. It also seems to be co-opting sales and marketing methods perfected in the secular fashion world.
"Ten years ago, most of the colors were black or grey," says Halim Ozahi of the Turkish manufacturer Buketex. "Now you can see everywhere pink, yellow, blue."

Ozahi said during the same time period his company had gone from manufacturing 10 different dress designs to more then 150.

The designs on display here are a far cry from the black robes and all-concealing burqas many Westerners associate with the Islamic world.

"The younger generation of Muslims coming up, they want something stylish," said Hamza Ali, a visiting American who works with the South Carolina-based company .

"There's nothing wrong with being beautiful, there's nothing wrong with being classy, nothing wrong with being fashionable, nothing wrong with wearing the latest thing out there. As long as it's modest," Ali added.

This relatively new industry may be growing, but it still appears to be dominated by men. Most of the sales representatives manning booths at the trade show are male.

Nur Yamankaradeniz is one exception. She designs high-priced gowns studded with Swarovski crystals for conservative Muslim women as well as their secular counterparts.

"A covered person should not be scary, she should look nice," Yamankaradeniz said. "We are trying very hard to get them to accept this."

Yamankaradeniz herself was dressed in a black trench-coat, with a lavender blouse, a brown paisley-patterned headscarf, and a gold watch studded with diamonds.

One of the few Muslim models hired to stride the catwalk here is Alfina Nasyrova, a woman who wore a midriff revealing t-shirt as she did her make-up backstage.

"In these clothes, you are feeling so clean, so pure," she said, after changing into a blue-and-white striped full body Hasema swim suit.

Asked whether she would wear a Hasema to the beach this summer, she answered, with a laugh, "Normally, I wear a bikini."

China's car craze on display

The axis of the automotive world has shifted east.
Forget Detroit and the troubles that have beleaguered U.S. automakers. While the global auto market has contracted through the financial crisis, vehicle sales in China have soared -- with Chinese sales eclipsing the U.S. as the world's top auto market for the first time.

The importance of China to global automakers is evident at Auto China 2010 in Beijing. The show, which runs through May 2, is the stage from which automakers from Japan, North America, Europe and China have unveiled 89 new models.

The China market has been a lifeline for General Motors, the Detroit carmaker who until recently was the largest automobile company in the world. Since being overtaken at the top spot by Toyota, the company had to declare bankruptcy last year.

 But in China, GM is the number one car maker, with sales there surpassing 2 million for the first time -- four years ahead of company projections.

GM has made its mark in the China market by selling small, affordable cars. But many luxury brands such as BMW and Ferrari are raking in sales as well -- the luxury market is the fastest growing segment of China's growing car culture.

Many of Western designs are being retailored for the Chinese market. For instance, many of the new models have stretched space in the back seat -- where many affluent Chinese car owners sit. One prototype by Chinese carmaker Geely even takes this to the next level: The Geely Emgrand GE, a plug-in hybrid limousine, features only one rear passenger seat.

4 bad habits can age you by 12 years

Four common unequaled habits combined — smoking, drinking extremely much, inactivity and pinched diet — can flourish you by 12 years, sobering new scrutinize suggests.

The findings are from a study that tracked nearly 5,000 British adults being 20 years, and they spot yet another reason to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Overall, 314 relatives studied had gross four unhealthy behaviors. Among them, 91 died during the study, or 29 percent. Among the 387 healthiest family protect none of the four habits, only 32 died, or about 8 percent.

The menacing behaviors were: smoking tobacco; downing more than three alcoholic drinks per present for masculinity further more than two daily in that sexuality; getting less than two hours of physical activity per clock; and eating fruits besides vegetables fewer than three times daily.

These habits combined substantially innumerable the risk of death and made relatives who assiduous in them seem 12 years older than people domination the healthiest group, said lead researcher Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo.

The study appears in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.

The healthiest group included never-smokers also those who had quit; teetotalers, manhood who had fewer than two drinks daily and men who had fewer than three; those who got at least two hours of indubitable working memento; and those who ate fruits and vegetables at inceptive three times daily.

Healthy behaviors number among up
"You don't love to be extreme" to be fame the healthy category, Kvaavik said. "These behaviors add up, so together it's quite becoming. perceptible should act as possible being most people to bring about to do it."

For example, one carrot, unrivaled apple again a glass of orange guidance would suffice for the fruit and vegetable cutoffs in the study, Kvaavik said, noting that the amounts are exquisite tentative and less strict than many guidelines.

The U.S. government generally recommends at least 4 cups of fruits or vegetables daily for adults, depending on promote and activity level; again about 2½ hours of exercise weekly.

Study participants were 4,886 British adults tired 18 also older, or 44 years void on average. They were randomly selected from participants force a distinct nationwide British health research. Study subjects were asked about inconsistent lifestyle habits only once, a potential limitation, but Kvaavik oral those habits tend to be fairly parallel in adulthood

Death certificates were checked through the next 20 years. The most common causes of death included target disease and cancer, both related to unhealthy lifestyles.

Kvaavik said her effect are applicable to other westernized nations including the United States.

June Stevens, a University of North Carolina public health researcher, said the impression are supremacy line cover previous studies that tried the combined effects of health-related habits on longevity.

The findings don't mean that everyone who maintains a healthy lifestyle will live longer than those who don't, but solid entrust increase the odds, Stevens said.

China's famed Pearl River under denim threat

On the banks of the Pearl River, vendors set up shop daily at the Luwei village market. Mr. Liu wanders through the stalls at dusk, selecting vegetables and fish from the local fishmonger for dinner. As the sun sets on the murky river, he marvels at the disturbing transformation of the waterway he calls home.


"The water has turned dark and black," he says.
"People used to swim in it," a cabbage hawker says across the market. "We know it's polluted, but what can we do?"

The Pearl River has sustained Chinese civilization for ages, but over the last few decades, civilization has not been kind to the river. It has become a dumping ground for debris, floating among massive algae blooms and even pig carcasses. Agricultural runoff is one of the river's biggest threats, next to industrial pollution.

The river is the lifeblood of the "world's factory floor," thousands of factories that produce the world's toys, mobile phones, computers, textiles and more.

It is also the blue jean capital of the world.
The township of Xintang, nestled in the northeastern part of the river delta, is an amalgamation of textile, denim and dyeing facilities. Inside, workers snap buttons on jeans so fast you can barely see their hands move.

The Chinese government estimates Xintang produces 200 million pairs of jeans per year including 60 different foreign brands. That is just under half of the 450 million pairs of jeans sold annually in the United States.
But what blue-jean clad consumers everywhere probably don't realize is the process by which denim is made may be poisoning China's water supply.

Satellite images reveal the part of the Pearl River adjacent to Xintang's blue jean factories indeed runs black. The nearby riverbank is piled with trash, including denim scraps.

Like most textiles, denim-making starts with plain white cotton. At the Jinxin Dyeing Plant, bales of it are piled up, then lowered into boiling vats of dye. The cotton emerges steaming, doused in that deep indigo blue color we all know well.

But the process releases tons of wastewater, a cocktail of dye, bleach and detergent. Foamy blue wastewater pools in a channel that winds around Jinxin factory property.

According to the factory boss, Li Zhongquan, most of the water is recycled. "If we didn't pay attention to the environment, the Communist Party would shut us down," Li said.

He later admits some of the wastewater is not recycled, but discharged, and claims he does not know where it goes.

You don't have to look far for a clue. Pipes at the edge of factory property lead directly into the Pearl River.
"The problem with those pipes is that they don't have labeling," said Greenpeace's China country manager, Edward Chan. "You don't know what is coming out from them. Some of it might be domestic discharge from the dormitories, but it could also include industrial waste."

Greenpeace's recent report "Poisoning the Pearl," indicates a fair share of factories may be flagrantly dumping their wastewater into the river.

The organization surveyed the contents of pipes from five different factories, including a textile factory and found that all five contained excessive amounts of heavy metals, organic pollutants and chemicals.

According to Dr. Tony Lu, Chief Medical Officer at Guangzhou's International SOS Clinic, these kind of toxins can be seriously hazardous to human health.

"If there are a lot of heavy metals, they are neurotoxic, carcinogenic, they disrupt the endocrine system," Lu said. "They cause cancer of different organs."

Greenpeace reported it discovered heavy metals like manganese, which can also be associated with brain damage.

But Lu said it was difficult to link industrial pollution to adverse health conditions along the Pearl River. The area has never had a documented outbreak of illness along the lines of "cancer villages" that have been discovered in other parts of China.

However, experts insist water pollution is a major challenge China has to confront -- or risk a massive threat to its water supply in the future.

"The number one problem (China) face(s) is water pollution," said Deborah Seligsohn of the World Resources Institute. "The textile industry is one of China's larger industries and one that uses a lot of water so it's traditionally had a lot of wastewater problems."

The Chinese government acknowledges it has a lot of work to do to clean it up. In February, the government revealed a detailed survey of water pollution indicating that it was twice as bad in 2007 as official figures suggested.

The Guangzhou Water Resources Bureau says it plans to spend $5 billion to improve wastewater treatment ahead of the Asian Games that will be held there this year.

In response to allegations of water pollution among denim producers, deputy director Wu Xuewei said: "If they're violating standards, we'll treat them as criminals and they'll be punished."

He added that the water department intends to implement and enforce a series of regulations, requiring companies to pass wastewater tests and imposing random inspections. He vowed factories will be fined, prosecuted or shut down if they exceed pollution limits.

But, when pressed, he claimed that regulation could be difficult due to the sheer volume of factories in the Pearl River delta.

"Of course we know what's in the pipes, every factory is supposed to register, but there are so many," he said. "What's exactly in the wastewater, I don't know."

Read more stories on China
Environmentalists say the biggest problem is that industrial pollution in a river as big as the Pearl can poison the entire ecosystem and put the people who live in it at risk.

In a fishing village along the Pearl River, a villager wades through a dirty pond and catches fish with his bare hands.

"It is a very good fish," he said. "I eat fish every day."

If he doesn't eat the fish for dinner tonight, he says he will send it to a local market where residents like Mr. Liu might buy it, not knowing whether or not it's contaminated.

Thai king speaks for first time in political crisis

For the first time amid the political upheaval raging in Thailand, the nation's revered king spoke out Monday, calling on new judges to help stabilize the country.

Speaking from the hospital where he has been since last year, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 82, addressed a group of newly appointed judges.


"I would like all you to preserve honesty," he said, adding that "it will be a way to help the country to be progressing and stabilized at the same time."

He told the judges they could "be seen as model" for people who work in all sorts of jobs.
The king added that in performing their duties, the judges "would help to uphold justice and order of the country, and this is very important. If you do follow your oath strictly, it will help bring order to the country, certainly."

King Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning monarch, wields little political power, but is revered and enjoys immense popularity.

He was admitted to the hospital last September after complaining of fever and fatigue.

Meanwhile, the political crisis in the country shows no immediate sign of abating. Negotiations between the government and the anti-government protesters, known as "red shirts," are stuck, and tensions are mounting. Another group of protesters, called the "multi-colored shirts," are urging the government to take tougher action against the red shirts.

On Sunday the country's prime minister acknowledged he did not expect protesters would use weapons and apply violence toward authority.

Speaking on national television, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva made the admission a day after he rejected a call from anti-government protesters to dissolve the country's parliament in 30 days. Abhisit said other groups' political opinions must be taken into consideration before any such action is taken.

More than two dozen civilians and military personnel have died since protesters began occupying key tourism and shopping areas in Thailand's capital.

Red Shirt leaders offered Friday to return to the negotiating table -- but only if the government meets certain demands, including lifting a state of emergency and accepting responsibility for the deaths of protesters earlier this month, said Weng Tojirakarn, a co-leader of the group.

On the government's side, spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told on Saturday that there was no counter-proposal to get the negotiations back on track.

"We need to make sure negotiations take place under a conducive environment," Panitan said, explaining that previous attempts to talk to opposition leaders had been derailed due to threats against government officials.
Other conditions that must be met before any negotiations could take place include having protest leaders make sure there will be no further expansion of demonstrations into other districts and no threats to government officers, the government spokesman said.

"These conditions are very critical for peaceful negotiations," Panitan explained. "Negotiation is the only way out in the end, but... we need to stabilize the situation first."

He cited the fact that several demonstrations were taking place "by different 'shirts' and colors," and said that all demonstrators must observe the rule of law and "peace and civility will be restored first."

His remarks came as tension remained high on the streets of Bangkok, where a political standoff has gripped the country for several weeks. The Red Shirts have been clashing with the Thai military in a Bangkok area that serves as a financial hub. Another co-leader of the Red Shirts, Veera Muskapong, met with foreign diplomats Friday and told them he might meet with the government if it meets certain conditions.

Abhisit, meanwhile, huddled with the chiefs of the country's armed forces early Friday after a string of grenade attacks killed at least one person and wounded dozens of others.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said in a televised address that the grenades were launched from the area where the Red Shirts have been encamped for weeks, but the protesters denied any responsibility for the attacks.

British ambassador survives attack in Yemen

The British ambassador to Yemen survived an apparent suicide bomb attack Monday on his convoy in the capital, Sanaa, the British government and Yemen Embassy in Washington said.


"There was (a) small explosion beside the British ambassador's car. He was unhurt. No other embassy staff or British nationals were injured," said a statement by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

In a separate statement, the spokesman for Yemen's U.S. Embassy, Mohammed al-Basha, said the lone fatality of the morning attack was the alleged suicide bomber, described as a man dressed in sports gear with explosives strapped to his body.

In Yemen, an Interior Ministry statement identified the alleged suicide bomber as Othman Ali al Salwi, 22, from Taiz province.

Initial reports said two Yemenis -- a man and a woman -- were injured in the attack and taken to a hospital, but a Yemeni government official said three bystanders were rushed to the hospital.

The official asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the news media. government or the Yemeni Embassy.

There was no confirmation of those reported injuries in the statements from the British government or the Yemeni Embassy.

The convoy carrying Ambassador Tim Torlot, 52, was a short distance from the British Embassy at the time of the blast. Yemeni security forces sealed off the area and began an investigation.

Torlot was appointed ambassador to Yemen in July 2007.
"The embassy will remain closed to the public for the time being," the Foreign Office said. "We advise all British nationals in Yemen to keep a low profile and remain vigilant. We are working urgently with the Yemeni authorities to investigate what happened."

Al-Basha's statement said the attack occurred at 8 a.m. in Noqom in the eastern district of Sanaa.
"Following the attack, the Yemeni Interior Ministry deployed police units and dispatched additional crime scene investigators to assist with the investigation," al-Basha's statement said. It quoted an unnamed senior Yemeni security official as saying the attack "bore the hallmarks" of al Qaeda.

The statement noted Yemeni security forces killed two suspected al Qaeda operatives and arrested a third in the western coastal city of Hodeidah on April 18, and said the government has increased security measures around vital installations and foreign missions for fear of retaliation.

Landslide buries cars, cuts highway in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan - An certified says rescuers are searching over travelers juice three cars swamped by a massive landslide when a hillside collapsed in northern Taiwan.

Firefighter Tang Cheng-yu says the Sunday landslide buried a makin's of a three-lane highway in rubble about the size of two soccer stadiums.


A motorist capital reported the act in Keelung. He verbal he made a sharp turn to narrowly avoid the massive mud cascading down significance splendor of his car.

Tang says hundreds of workers are digging around the flash with bulldozers Monday but posit yet to locate the cars.

He says the landslide followed days of rain. scoop reports say four kin are believed to have been buried command the cars.

First Iraqi flight to London in 20 years lands at Gatwick

The first commercial flight from Iraq to the United Kingdom in 20 years landed at London's Gatwick Airport late Sunday night and took off for Baghdad Monday morning.


Commercial air links were cut after the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990.


Iraqi Minister of Transportation Karim Mahdi Salih and other ministry officials were on the first flight, the ministry said.

Flight service between Baghdad and London was originally scheduled to kick off on April 17, but was delayed by a cloud of volcanic ash which shut down much of Europe's airspace, said Amar Naser of IKB Travel.

The agency is handling British bookings for the Iraqi Airways flights.
The first flight was full, with commercial passengers joining the ministry officials, Naser said.
Iraqi Airways plans two flights a week between Baghdad and London, the ministry said.

The flights are due to run on Mondays and Saturdays, with a stopover for security checks in Malmo, Sweden, according to IKB Travel. The layover lasts three hours.

Round-trip economy tickets cost 580 British pounds ($895), while business class costs 1,280 pounds ($1,976).

The resumption of commercial flights between Iraq and the United Kingdom comes almost a year after the launch of air links between Afghanistan and Europe.

Safi Airlines flies between Kabul and Frankfurt, Germany, three times a week.

South Africans battle baboons in city streets

As natural habitats disappear in South Africa, baboons and humans are increasingly coming into close contact, and conflict.

In South Africa's Cape Peninsula there has been a large-scale transformation of wild baboons' natural habitat into land for housing, industry and agriculture, according to the University of Cape Town Baboon Research Unit.

The result is that wild baboons are surrounded by humans, which the researchers say is causing human-baboon conflict to escalate.

But the problem isn't confined only to the Cape, as baboons are increasingly venturing into towns and villages across southern Africa in search of food, often leaving a trail of damage in their wake.

In the farming village of Barrydale, a four-hour drive from Cape Town, baboons are a growing problem. While some local farmers say they want to shoot baboons found in the village, others favor a more sustainable solution.


Jenny Trethowan, of advocacy group Baboon Matters, is known as the "Baboon Lady" back in Cape Town. She has spent her career trying to protect the primates in the Cape Peninsula, of which there are more than 400.

In Barrydale, she sees an opportunity to tackle the problem before it gets out of hand.
"What is so exciting about the Barrydale scenario is the fact that they are being extremely proactive," Trethowan told.

"In many of the other areas it's been a long time, where baboons have become habituated and trained. Now in Barrydale they are saying 'let's stop this behavior quickly before it gets started,' and that's enormously exciting for me."

Trethowan has pinned her hopes on implementing a baboon-monitoring program in the village. At the Joshua Baboon Rehabilitation Project, just outside Barrydale, Baboon Matters is training locals to be baboon monitors.

The monitors are tasked with patrolling Barrydale and herding baboons away from homes and farms.
"If we can get the monitoring program going quickly before the baboons are habituated I believe we stand a good chance of success here," said Trethowan.

Nola Frazier runs the Joshua Baboon Rehabilitation Project and supports the village's monitoring program. "I don't think the baboon problem is going to go away," Frazier told. "It's a learning curve. It's something that's happening here; it's happening all over South Africa."

An existing monitoring program on the Cape is yielding benefits. Statistics from the Baboon Research Unit show human-induced injuries to baboons are at their lowest for five years. Deaths are also down, and the baboon population is up, which means encounters with humans are more likely.

When she's not helping to run monitoring programs, Trethowan takes tourists on walks around the Cape Peninsula to see baboons in what she hopes will be their natural habitat.

But despite the monitors' best efforts, the baboons sometimes stray from their natural environment. The smell of cooking, and windows left open, are practically an invitation to hungry baboons, whose food raids can result in damage to property.

"When I take people to walk, I never describe baboons as something they are not," said Trethowan. "They do cause incredible damage, and the ideal thing would be for them to be on the mountain and not in the village.

"The monitors can struggle without a doubt. What's frustrating to me is to see the residents make little effort to help the monitors. If they were working with the monitors more, the monitors would be more efficient."
When it comes to taking on one of the continent's most opportunistic animals, researchers and advocates say there are no easy answers.

"Baboons are definitely incredibly opportunistic and incredibly adaptable, so from a management point of view it makes it incredibly difficult," said Trethowan. But she said it's these same characteristics that drew her into a life of advocacy for baboons.

"It is hugely amazing to watch how these baboons will adapt to a situation and will seize an opportunity and work with whatever they've got," she told.

"I think we've got a lot to learn from them, in hopes of showing more people the positives in an animal so often labeled a problem."

Foreign Office apologises for Pope 'condom' memo

The Foreign Office has apologised for a "foolish" document which suggested the Pope's visit to the UK could be marked by the launch of "Benedict" condoms.

Called "The ideal visit would see...", it said the Pope could be invited to open an abortion clinic and bless a gay marriage during September's visit.

The Foreign Office stressed the paper, which resulted from a "brainstorm" on the visit, did not reflect its views.

The Bishop of Nottingham said, if anything, it was "appalling manners".
The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon said: "I think it's a lot worse that we invite someone into our country - a person like the Pope - and then he's treated in this way.
"I think it's appalling manners more than anything else."
The junior civil servant responsible had been put on other duties, the Foreign Office said.
Details of the document emerged after it was obtained by the Sunday Telegraph.


The UK's ambassador to the Vatican, Francis Campbell, has met senior officials of the Holy See to express regret on behalf of the government.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband is said to have been "appalled" by the incident.

The paper was attached as one of three "background documents" to a memo dated 5 March 2010 inviting officials in Whitehall and Downing Street to attend a meeting to discuss themes for the papal visit.
It suggested Benedict XVI could show his hard line on the sensitive issue of child abuse allegations against Roman Catholic priests by "sacking dodgy bishops" and launching a helpline for abused children.
The document went on to propose the Pope could apologise for the Spanish Armada or sing a song with the Queen for charity.

It listed "positive" public figures who could be made part of the Pope's visit, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair and 2009 Britain's Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle, and those considered "negative", such as Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins.


The civil servant responsible for sending round the memo said in a cover note: "Please protect; these should not be shared externally. The 'ideal visit' paper in particular was the product of a brainstorm which took into account even the most far-fetched of ideas."

An investigation was launched after some recipients of the memo, said to have been circulated to a restricted list, objected to its tone.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the department was "deeply sorry" for any offence the document had caused.

"This is clearly a foolish document that does not in any way reflect UK government or Foreign Office policy or views. Many of the ideas in the document are clearly ill-judged, naive and disrespectful," he said.
"The text was not cleared or shown to ministers or senior officials before circulation. As soon as senior officials became aware of the document, it was withdrawn from circulation.

"The individual responsible has been transferred to other duties. He has been told orally and in writing that this was a serious error of judgment and has accepted this view."


The Foreign Office said the memo had resulted from discussions by a group of three or four junior staff in a team working on early planning for the papal visit.

A source told,website the individual since moved to other duties had called the group together for "some blue-skies creative thinking about how to make the visit a success", but their discussions had become "a joke that has gone too far".

The source added that others in the group had been spoken to about the incident, but had not faced any formal action.

Bishop McMahon said he hoped it was meant to be "light hearted".
But he added: "That in itself can be dangerous if these memos move around the departments, they tend to gain momentum."

He said he did not think Catholics would be upset by the memo as they "are used to getting a bad press".
Jack Valero from the organisation Catholic Voices said he was not taking the memo seriously.

"I think it's a joke that has gone wrong - light relief that has gone out of control. And I think Catholics will just take it like this, you know, that they'll think about it today and then they will forget about it."
He said those that have been scarred by abortion would find the joke "a bit thin".

But he added: "In the Catholic church we are used to forgiveness, it's part of our culture to forgive people's mistakes."

Earlier this year the Pope announced 2010 would see the first papal visit to the UK since John Paul II's visit in 1982.

Pope Benedict XVI's visit will take place from 16 to 19 September, during which time he is expected to visit Birmingham, as part of the planned beatification of Cardinal John Newman, and Scotland.

The visit will come in the autumn of what is proving to be a difficult year for the Pope with a wave of allegations that Church authorities in Europe and North and South America failed to deal properly with priests accused of paedophilia.

The Pope himself has been accused of being part of a culture of secrecy and of not taking strong enough steps against paedophiles when he had that responsibility as a cardinal in Rome.


However, his supporters say he has been the most pro-active Pope yet in confronting abuse.

Tea 'healthier' drink than water

Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers.


The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates.
Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found. 


Experts believe flavonoids are the key ingredient in tea that promote health.


These polyphenol antioxidants are found in many foods and plants, including tea leaves, and have been shown to help prevent cell damage. 

Public health nutritionist Dr Carrie Ruxton, and colleagues at Kings College London, looked at published studies on the health effects of tea consumption. 

They found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack. 

Some studies suggested tea consumption protected against cancer, although this effect was less clear-cut.
Other health benefits seen included protection against tooth plaque and potentially tooth decay, plus bone strengthening. 

Dr Ruxton said: "Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so it's got two things going for it."


She said it was an urban myth that tea is dehydrating.
"Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid. 


"Also, a cup of tea contains fluoride, which is good for the teeth," she added.
There was no evidence that tea consumption was harmful to health. However, research suggests that tea can impair the body's ability to absorb iron from food, meaning people at risk of anaemia should avoid drinking tea around mealtimes. 

Dr Ruxton's team found average tea consumption was just under three cups per day.
She said the increasing popularity of soft drinks meant many people were not drinking as much tea as before.
"Tea drinking is most common in older people, the 40 plus age range. In older people, tea sometimes made up about 70% of fluid intake so it is a really important contributor," she said. 

Claire Williamson of the British Nutrition Foundation said: "Studies in the laboratory have shown potential health benefits. 

"The evidence in humans is not as strong and more studies need to be done. But there are definite potential health benefits from the polyphenols in terms of reducing the risk of diseases such as heart disease and cancers. 

"In terms of fluid intake, we recommend 1.5-2 litres per day and that can include tea. Tea is not dehydrating. It is a healthy drink." 

The Tea Council provided funding for the work. Dr Ruxton stressed that the work was independent.