Syrian PM 'survives car bombing'

29 April 2013 Last updated at 06:38 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The BBC's Wyre Davis reports from Beirut: "It shows really the ability of the armed opposition groups to strike at the heart of the regime"

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi has survived a car bomb attack in the capital, Damascus, state media say.

The blast in the capital's western Mazzeh district targeted Mr Halqi's convoy, state TV said, reportedly causing a number of casualties.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, said Mr Halqi's bodyguard had been killed, AFP news agency reported.

It is unclear whether the blast was a suicide bombing or a planted device.

State television carried a brief interview with Mr Halqi, saying that it was filmed after the attack.

He appears assured but somewhat shaken in the interview, in which he talks about a meeting he has just attended on the economy.

State TV said the blast happened at a busy intersection, near a public garden and a school. The upmarket neighbourhood is home to government buildings, the residences of several political figures and a military airport vital to the regime's defences.

"I was walking in the street when suddenly there was a very powerful explosion and I saw a car burning and people running," a witness told AFP.

An unnamed Syrian official said the explosion was caused by a bomb placed underneath a parked car in the area, the Associated Press news agency reported.

An earlier report said it had been a suicide attack.

Footage from the scene showed the charred remains of several vehicles, and a badly damaged bus. Debris and glass were strewn around a wide area, where onlookers had gathered.

A picture that activists said was of the site just after the attack showed a large plume of black smoke rising into the air near a road and a high-rise building.

Syrian forces and rebels have been fighting around Damascus for months but with neither side gaining the upper hand.

Continue reading the main story

• 8 April 2013: Car bomb in Damascus kills at least 15 people and wounds 53
• 21 March: Sheikh Mohammed al-Bouti, leading cleric and supporter of President Bashar al-Assad, killed in blast in Damascus along with 41 others
• 12 December 2012: Car bombing hits interior ministry in Damascus, killing several people and wounding more than 20, including Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar
• 18 July: Syrian national security building in Damascus bombed, killing defence minister and deputy, and wounding interior minister

The attack is the latest bombing inside government-controlled areas of the capital.

In December a suicide bombing struck the interior ministry. State media said top officials had escaped unhurt, but it later emerged that the interior minister himself had been badly injured.

So far there has been no claim of responsibility for Monday's attack. Similar bombings in the past have been linked to the jihadist al-Nusra Front, one of the most prominent rebel groups fighting the regime.

Mr Halqi, a senior member of the ruling Baath party, became prime minister last year after Riad Hijab defected to Jordan. He was previously health minister.

More than 70,000 people have been killed since fighting between Syrian forces and rebels erupted in March 2011.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

EU may ban pesticides in bee scare

29 April 2013 Last updated at 04:23 ET

EU states are to vote shortly on a proposal to restrict the use of pesticides linked to bee deaths in scientific studies.

There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations.

Neonicotinoid chemicals in sprays are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators.

But many farmers and crop experts argue that there is insufficient data.

The Commission will impose a two-year restriction on neonicotinoids if the states fail to agree.

Wild species such as honey bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world's crop production.

An EU vote last month was inconclusive, so the Commission proposal went to an appeals committee, which is voting on Monday.

Under EU rules, changes can still be made to the draft, but if there is still no qualified majority for or against the proposal the Commission can impose the moratorium.

Some restrictions are already in place for neonicotinoids in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia.

But the idea of a two-year moratorium did not attract enough support last month, under the EU's weighted voting system, after the UK and Germany both abstained. In the vote 13 countries were in favour, nine against and five including the UK abstained.

Continue reading the main story

• Nicotine is not just lethal to humans in the form of cigarettes, but the chemical is also extremely toxic to insects
• Neonicotinoid pesticides are new nicotine-like chemicals and act on the nervous systems of insects, with a lower threat to mammals and the environment than many older sprays
• Pesticides made in this way are water soluble, which means they can be applied to the soil and taken up by the whole plant - they are called "systemic", meaning they turn the plant itself into a poison factory, with toxins coming from roots, leaves, stems and pollen
• Neonicotinoids are often applied as seed treatments, which means coating the seeds before planting.

The three neonicotinoids are clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam.

A report published by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) in January concluded that the pesticides posed a "high acute risk" to pollinators, including honeybees.

However, it added that in some cases it was "unable to finalise the assessments due to shortcomings in the available data".

Intensive lobbying

There has been ferocious lobbying both for and against in the run-up to Monday's vote, the BBC's Chris Morris reports from Brussels.

Nearly three million signatures have been collected in support of a ban - and demonstrators will be making their point in Brussels again on Monday. Protesters against neonicotinoids rallied in Westminster on Friday.

Campaign organiser Andrew Pendleton of the environmental group Friends of the Earth said "leading retailers have already taken action by removing these pesticides from their shelves and supply chains - the UK government must act too".

"Pesticides aren't the only threat bees face - that's why David Cameron must urgently introduce a Bee Action Plan," he said.

Chemical companies and pesticide manufacturers have been lobbying just as hard - they argue that the science is inconclusive, and that a ban would harm food production.

The UK government seems to agree with the industry lobby. It says it cannot support the proposed ban in its current form. The chief scientific adviser, Sir Mark Walport, has said restrictions on the use of pesticides should not be introduced lightly, and the idea of a ban should be dropped.

The EU moratorium would not apply to crops non-attractive to bees, or to winter cereals.

It would prohibit the sale and use of seeds treated with neonicotinoid pesticides.

The deadline for implementation would be 1 July this year, not affecting the forthcoming sowing season for maize.

There would be a ban on the sale of neonicotinoids to amateur growers.

There have been a number of studies showing that the chemicals, made by Bayer and Syngenta, do have negative impacts on bees.

One study suggested that neonicotinoids affected the abilities of hives to produce queen bees. More recent research indicated that the pesticides damaged their brains.

But the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) argues that these studies were mainly conducted in the laboratory and do not accurately reflect field conditions.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Climbers and guides fight on Everest

29 April 2013 Last updated at 06:32 ET

Police in Nepal are investigating an alleged fight between two famous European climbers and their Nepalese mountain guides on Mount Everest.

Switzerland's Ueli Steck and Simone Moro from Italy were nearing Camp Three at 7,470m (24,500ft) when the incident occurred.

The fight allegedly broke out after the pair ignored orders to hold their climb while the Sherpas were rigging ropes.

The guides reportedly attacked the pair after they returned to their tents.

Following the incident, the climbers packed "bare essentials" and made their way back down to Mount Everest base camp, "feeling that this was the safest place to be", said Mr Moro, an experienced Everest climber.

'Terrifying to watch'

One version of events is that the guides asked the climbers to wait while they went ahead and secured ropes, but the climbers continued and dislodged ice which fell on the guides.

Mr Moro said in a statement that "getting hit by chunks of ice is a very natural occurrence" on an ice face. "As it stands, no Sherpa has come forward to show any injury."

"The climbers believe that the lead Sherpa was felt that his pride had been damaged as the climbers were moving unroped and much faster," the statement added.

When they returned to their tents, Mr Moro said a large mob of guides had grouped together to attack him, Mr Steck and a third climber in their expedition, Briton Jonathan Griffith.

"[The guides] became instantly aggressive and not only punched and kicked the climbers, but threw many rocks as well," said Mr Moro.

An unnamed eyewitness told the AFP news agency the incident had been "terrifying to watch - they nearly got killed".

More than 3,000 people have scaled Mount Everest since it was first conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Straddling Nepal and China, the world's largest mountain has an altitude of 8,848m (29,029ft).

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bangladesh rescuers' hopes fade

29 April 2013 Last updated at 06:58 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan in Dhaka: "Rescue teams went inside last night and there was a fire... they had to pull out and they could not save a young woman"

Rescue work on a collapsed building in Bangladesh has entered a sixth day, but officials say they no longer expect to find any survivors.

Heavy lifting gear is now being used to raise slabs of concrete at the Rana Plaza garment factory, where at least 380 died after Wednesday's collapse.

PM Sheikh Hasina visited the site and some of the victims on Monday.

Several people, including the owner of the building, have been arrested in connection with the disaster.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

How am I going to feed and raise my daughters?"

End Quote Victim's widow

At least 3,000 are estimated to have been in the Rana Plaza building when it collapsed. About 2,430 are now known to have survived but hundreds are dead or missing.

Some relatives of those missing complained that the prime minister had not spoken to them during her visit to the site.

"We could have talked to her, and she also could have listened to us," said Monowara Begum, the mother of one missing worker.

Sheikh Hasina also visited some of the survivors in hospital. Bangladesh news site BDNews24 said she had assured them they would receive help from the government.

Continue reading the main story

What Bangladesh's media are saying

An editorial in the Daily Star says it is "unfortunate" that Bangladeshi garment manufacturers "have convoluted the idea of 'competitive' and 'cheap'," and that workers are "bearing the brunt of this in terms of poor wages and through their lives".

Also in the Daily Star, Hameeda Hossain writes: "Even as we mourn the dead, whose poorly paid labour contributed to profits from Bangladesh' export garments, it is time to question why the state has repeatedly ignored violation of laws, why regulatory mechanisms fail to monitor systemic failures, why political patronage confers impunity for corporate crimes."

Muhammad Q Islam writes for bdnews24: "We still have a 47 million strong army of very poor people who will be willing to take all the risks that culminate in injury and death, both at home and abroad, to improve their lot. Our economic policies explicitly rely on continued availability of this work force to fuel our economic growth."

Fariha Sarawat says in the Dhaka Tribune that while buyers should take some moral responsibility for such disasters "the state aids and abates this hostile environment by repeatedly siding with the interests of the manufacturers, instead of the workers - it has failed to punish a single manufacturer whose negligence and greed have resulted in the death of workers".

Rubble fire

On Sunday night, rescuers working deep inside the rubble were told to leave, as cranes were brought in to begin lifting the heavy blocks of fallen concrete.

"We are proceeding cautiously. If there is still a soul alive, we will try to rescue that person,'' army spokesman Shahinul Islam told reporters.

"We are giving the highest priority to saving people, but there is little hope of finding anyone alive."

Fire brigade chief Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan said crews had seen bodies lying on the ground inside, but that "no-one was seen alive".

Rescue co-ordinators said that work with heavy-lifting gear would be done carefully to avoid further collapses and to protect bodies trapped under the debris as much as possible.

Continue reading the main story

Bangladesh's economy

• A total population of some 150.4m, 88% under the age of 55.
• GDP in 2012 was around $110bn - the ready-made garment (RMG) industry makes up 80% of all exports, totalling more than $15bn in 2012-13 financial year.
• About four million people are directly employed in the RMG industry, most of them women, earning an average monthly salary of roughly $40.

On Sunday afternoon, the operation was halted when a fire broke out as sparks from a metal-cutter ignited scraps of fabric in the rubble.

Four firefighters were taken to hospital.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan says rescuers had been trying to free a trapped woman for a number of hours when the fire began, but they later reported she had not survived the fire.

Also on Sunday, the building's owner, Mohammed Sohel Rana, was arrested, close to the Indian border.

He had been on the run since his eight-storey collapsed.

Bangladeshi TV later showed Mr Rana - a local leader of the youth wing of prime minister's Awami League party - in handcuffs after being flown back to Dhaka by helicopter.

He is accused of illegally adding three extra floors to the building and of telling workers to enter despite concerns being raised about cracks which had appeared in the walls.

At least seven people, including three owners of factories operating in the building, have now been arrested.

Bangladeshi media reports say the Mr Rana's father, Abdul Khalek, has also now been detained in connection with the collapse.

Anger at the building's collapse has triggered days of violent protests in Dhaka demanding those responsible be punished and for an improvement in factory conditions.

Garment industry workers across the country were given the weekend off, in the hope that the anger would fade.

But on Monday, thousands of workers walked out of factories in the Ashulia and Gazipur industrial districts shortly after they opened, and staged a protest march, reportedly setting fire to an ambulance.

Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing cheap clothing for major Western retailers that benefit from its widespread low-cost labour.

But the industry has been widely criticised for its low pay and limited rights given to workers and for the often dangerous working conditions in garment factories.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

'9/11 jet debris' found in New York

27 April 2013 Last updated at 02:37 ET

New York police say what appears to be part of the landing gear of one of the jets flown into the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 has been found.

The 5ft (1.52m) piece of metal, which bears a Boeing label and serial number, was wedged between two New York City buildings, police said.

It was found on Wednesday by surveyors inspecting a lower Manhattan building.

Nearly 3,000 people died in the terror attacks as planes were brought down in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Five suspected al-Qaeda militants are awaiting trial for the attacks at a military tribunal at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"It's a manifestation of a horrific terrorist act a block and a half away from where we stand," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters outside the secured site. "It brings back terrible memories to anyone who was here, who was involved in that event."

The piece was found in a narrow, rubbish-filled space 18in (0.45m) wide.

Broken pulley

Mr Kelly told reporters after inspecting it that a length of rope was looped around the piece of steel and that no marks were visible on the walls overhead.

What appears to be the remains of a broken pulley can be seen with the wreckage and the New York Times reports that Mr Kelly did not completely exclude the idea that the aircraft debris may have been lowered into the gap.

The New York Police Department has secured the area behind 51 Park Place and 50 Murray Street as a crime scene.

The location is at the site where a mosque and community centre has been proposed, three streets away from "Ground Zero" - the site of the twin towers.

Police have taken photographs and are keeping it off-limits until a health assessment has been made by the medical examiner's office.

Mr Kelly said investigators will scour the space for possible human remains.

He said the landing gear was found at about 11:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday by surveyors hired by the owner of 51 Park Place.

At 08:46 on 11 September 2001, American Airlines flight 11 hit the World Trade Center's north tower. Seventeen minutes later, United flight 175 hit the south tower.

Although rubble from the attack was cleared in 2002, other debris has been found scattered across the area in the years since.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of masterminding the attacks while the other four men being held at Guantanamo Bay are implicated for providing support for the co-ordinated hijacking.

They are charged with conspiring with al-Qaeda, terrorism, and one count of murder for each known victim of the 11 September attacks at the time the charges were filed - 2,976 in total.

The five face a possible death sentence if convicted.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

American faces trial in North Korea

27 April 2013 Last updated at 05:49 ET

A US citizen will be tried soon on charges including attempting to overthrow North Korea's government, the North's official news agency says.

KCNA says that Pae Jun-Ho has admitted the charges, without specifying when the verdict will be handed down.

Pae Jun-Ho, who is known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist.

His case comes at a time of high tension between Pyongyang and Washington.

This follows North Korea's third nuclear test in February.

'Proved by evidence'

"The preliminary inquiry into crimes committed by American citizen Pae Jun-Ho closed," the KCNA said in a report on Saturday.

"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) with hostility toward it.

"His crimes were proved by evidence," the report added. "He will soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgement."

Continue reading the main story

For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the US "

End Quote Koh Yu-hwan Dongguk University, Seoul

It is not clear what sort of sanction Mr Pae, 44, might face, although North Korea's criminal code provides for life imprisonment or the death penalty for similar offences.

North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytism. They have been released after intervention by senior American public figures.

Mr Pae, believed to be a tour operator of Korean descent, is the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter as well as former UN Ambassador Bill Richardson have all been involved in mediation efforts to gain the release of previous American detainees.

Industrial complex

In one of the most high-profile cases, Mr Clinton negotiated the release in 2009 of two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been found guilty of entering North Korea illegally.

"For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the US," Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul told Associated Press news agency.

"The North will use him in a way that helps bring the US to talks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue,'' he said.

Mr Pae was reportedly arrested in November after arriving in Rason - a special economic zone in the north-east of the country near the Russian border.

Washington has so far not publicly commented on the latest development.

The US and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations. The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang represents the US.

In a further sign of the continuing tension on the Korean peninsula, South Korea has begun withdrawing its remaining workers from the Kaesong joint industrial zone in North Korea.

The complex, once considered a symbol of reconciliation, lies just north of the military demarcation line dividing the two Koreas.

South Korean officials said 126 people had left, with the final 48 expected home by Monday.

North Korea has already withdrawn its 53,000 workers and blocked access to the zone in response to joint South Korean and US military exercises.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

First Dreamliner flight lands safely

27 April 2013 Last updated at 05:57 ET

An Ethiopian Airlines 787 Dreamliner has flown from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, the first commercial flight by the Boeing aircraft since all 787s were grounded in January.

The 50 planes around the world were grounded due to battery malfunctions that saw one 787 catch fire in the US.

Over the past week teams of Boeing engineers have been fitting new batteries to the aircraft.

This was after aviation authorities approved the revamped battery design.

The Ethiopian Airlines plane took off at 09:45 local time (07:45 GMT) and landed in Nairobi, Kenya, some two hours later.

Engineering team

Each 787 has two of the lithium-ion batteries which caused problems.

In addition to new versions of the batteries which run at a much cooler temperature, the batteries are now enclosed in stainless steel boxes.

These boxes have a ventilation pipe that goes directly to the outside of the plane. Boeing says this means than in the unlikely event of any future fire or smoke, it would not affect the rest of the aircraft.

Continue reading the main story

The two-hour flight from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Nairobi in Kenya is not normally a flight that would make headline news around the world.

But this journey is special, because it should mark the end of an incredibly damaging chapter for Boeing's flagship airliner.

I'll be talking to passengers on board the flight, and it'll be fascinating to see how they feel about flying on a plane that was grounded across the globe only last January after one battery caught fire and another overheated, forcing an emergency landing.

Boeing and its customers, who include British Airways, Virgin and Thomson, will be desperate to put the whole episode behind them.

Boeing said it put 200,000 engineer hours into fixing the problem, with staff working round the clock.

On Thursday, the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a formal "air worthiness" directive allowing revamped 787s to fly.

Japanese airlines, which have been the biggest customers for the new-generation aircraft, are expected to begin test flights on Sunday.

A total of 300 Boeing engineers, pooled into 10 teams, have in the past week been fitting the new batteries and their containment systems around the world.

Boeing is expected to complete repairs on all 50 of the grounded Dreamliners by the middle of May.

In addition to the Dreamliners in service with airlines, Boeing has upgraded the 787s it has continued to make at its factory in Seattle since January.

The Dreamliner entered service in 2011. Half of the plane is made from lightweight composite materials, making it more fuel efficient than other planes of the same size.

The two lithium-ion batteries are not used when the 787 is in flight.

They are operational when the plane is on the ground and its engines are not turned on, and are used to power the aircraft's brakes and lights.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Boeing engineer Rich Horigan explains how the battery problem was fixed

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Arrests over Dhaka building collapse

27 April 2013 Last updated at 06:39 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan in Dhaka says rescuers and volunteers worked through the night

Two owners of garment factories in the building that collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka have surrendered to police.

Mahbubur Rahman Tapas and Balzul Samad Adnan are suspected of forcing staff to work in the eight-storey building, ignoring warnings about cracks.

At least 336 people are known to have died after the Rana Plaza in the suburb of Savar collapsed on Wednesday.

On Saturday morning, at least 24 more people were rescued from the rubble.

Rescuers and volunteers, who worked through the night, cheered as they were brought to safety.

Continue reading the main story

I have just seen a woman pulled alive from deep inside the rubble of the Rana Plaza, four days since this huge garment factory complex collapsed.

She was crying as she emerged into the light on what was once the roof of the building. Rescuers shouted Allahu Akbar (God is great) as she was brought up on a rope and then carried away on a stretcher.

Emergency personnel say up to 14 more people are still trapped on what was the fifth floor of the building and work is under way to free them.

Hundreds of volunteers are still helping army and emergency services. Bodies are also still being retrieved from this massive tangle of concrete and metal.

There have been more clashes with police and protesters near the site as anger simmers over the disaster.

We passed dozens of riot police on the drive here, some were guarding other nearby garment factories following attacks on several others.

Earlier, rescue teams said they had located about 40 survivors on the collapsed third and fifth floors of the building.

Officials said they were working to extricate the remaining survivors and had passed oxygen cylinders and water to those still trapped.

More bodies of victims were also retrieved overnight and on Saturday morning.

Some 3,000 people are believed to have been working in the building at the time of the collapse and about 600 are still missing.

Watching the operation are hundreds of relatives of those still missing, many clutching photographs of their loved ones.

Abul Basar wept as he awaited news of his wife who worked in one of the garment factories.

"My son says that his mother will come back some day, she must return," he cried.

'Negligence'

Mr Tapas and Mr Adnan, the owners of the New Wave Buttons and New Wave Style factories, turned themselves in to police in the early hours of Saturday.

Deputy chief of Dhaka police Shyami Mukherjee said the two are accused of causing "death due to negligence", according the AFP news agency.

The owners reportedly told their employees to return to work on Wednesday, even though cracks were visible in the building a day earlier.

Three other clothing factories were reportedly operating in the building.

Dhaka police said on Saturday they were also questioning two engineers involved in the building.

The owner of Rana Plaza, Mohammed Sohel Rana, is reported to have gone into hiding.

"Those who're involved, especially the owner who forced the workers to work there, will be punished," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told lawmakers on Friday.

"Wherever he is, he will be found and brought to justice," the prime minister added.

There is widespread anger in Bangladesh over the disaster and fresh clashes between police and protesters erupted again on Saturday.

On Friday, police used tear-gas and rubber bullets to break up crowds that had blocked roads, set fire to buses and attacked textile factories.

Protesters are demanding that the government arrests all those responsible for the disaster and improves conditions for garment workers.

Police are guarding other garment factories in the area.

Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing cheap clothing for major Western retailers that benefit from its widespread low-cost labour.

But the industry has been widely criticised for its low pay and limited rights given to workers and for the often dangerous working conditions in garment factories.

Primark, a clothes retailer with a large presence in Britain, confirmed that one of its suppliers was on the second floor of the Rana Plaza, and said it would work with other retailers to review standards.

Labour rights groups say the companies have a moral duty to ensure their suppliers are providing safe conditions for their employees.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Teachers on rampage in Mexican state

24 April 2013 Last updated at 21:37 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Protesting teachers started fires and attacked buildings with pickaxes

Teachers incensed by sweeping education reforms have attacked the buildings of political parties in Mexico's south-western Guerrero state.

For several hours, masked protesters started fires and attacked the offices with pickaxes and sticks, spraying slogans on the walls.

The state governor has called for support from the federal government.

The reforms impose centralised teacher assessment and seek to end corrupt practices in the education system.

Those practices include the buying and selling of teaching positions.

But unions say the reforms could lead to big lay-offs, and critics also suggest they may be paving the way for the privatisation of Mexico's education system.

Wednesday's protests came a day after the Guerrero state legislature refused to amend the educational bill, which includes constitutional changes which must be passed by each state.

Continue reading the main story

The unrest is reminiscent of protests held by the same union in the state of Oaxaca in 2006 during a strike which lasted several months.

However, it is thought that in this case the gangs wreaking havoc in the city also include members of recently formed civilian self-defence groups which are operating in the state.

Comprised of members of local peasant and indigenous communities, the armed groups have started to take justice into their own hands by setting up roadblocks and arresting people they suspect of being involved with organised crime.

The combination of the two groups, and their shared sense of indignation at the local and national government, could prove difficult for the authorities to bring under control.

Any action by the police or security forces is likely to be met with an equally forceful response from the protesters who show little sign of backing down.

Police stood by during Wednesday's rampage in the state capital, Chilpancingo - though hundreds are guarding the state legislature.

Dozens of protesters targeted the local headquarters of the governing party, the PRI, as well as the offices of the opposition PAN and PRD, which have supported the reforms.

'Traitors'

A senator's office and state education department building were also attacked by the demonstrators, who broke windows and tossed computer equipment, desks and chairs out of the windows.

They burned papers inside the offices, some of which still had frightened workers inside when the masked men broke in, and sprayed slogans including "traitors of the people" on the walls.

The teachers are part of the country's smaller, more radical union, the National Co-ordinator of Education Workers.

Union spokesman Minervo Moran said the violent protests were "a reaction to the aggressive policies that are being imposed by the reforms and that's why there was this sort of action against the parties" that voted against the protesters' proposals.

But state Governor Angel Aguirre called for federal back-up and the PRI chairman Cesar Camacho pledged to investigate the unrest.

"We need to avoid the law of the jungle imposing itself, chaos and the breakdown of public order," Mr Camacho was quoted as saying.

Recently formed civilian self-defence groups are thought to have joined the demonstrators wreaking havoc on Wednesday, reports the BBC's Will Grant in Mexico City.

President Enrique Pena Nieto signed the education law in February, but parliamentarians need to draw up separate legislation to implement it.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

Read the terms and conditions

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

CIA 'tracked Boston bomb suspect'

24 April 2013 Last updated at 23:56 ET

One of the Boston bomb suspects was added to a terrorism database 18 months ago at the request of the CIA, officials have told US media.

The FBI has already said it investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, but had found no evidence of a threat.

Tsarnaev was killed during a police chase last week. His brother Dzhokhar, 19, is in custody over the bombs.

Three people were killed and more than 260 wounded when two devices exploded at the Boston Marathon on 15 April.

A US politician earlier confirmed the bombs were set off by remote control.

But the devices were not sophisticated and apparently had to be triggered from a few streets away.

FBI 'not at fault'

Officials said Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been added to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (Tide) on the request of the CIA.

The database contains as many as 745,000 entries, and individuals on that list are not necessarily on the so-called terrorist watch list.

Continue reading the main story

• Sons of Chechen refugees from the troubled Caucasus region of southern Russia
• Family is thought to have moved to the US in 2002 from Russian republic of Dagestan
• They lived in the Massachusetts town of Cambridge, home to Harvard University
• Dzhokhar, 19, was awarded a scholarship to pursue further education; he wanted to become a brain surgeon, according to his father
• Tamerlan, 26, was an amateur boxer who had reportedly taken time off college to train for a competition; he described himself as a "very religious" non-drinker and non-smoker

The Russian authorities had alerted US counterparts to the activities of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whose family has its origins in the war-torn Russian republic of Chechnya.

About six months before the CIA requested his name be added to Tide, the FBI asked the Russians for more information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev but received none, and closed its investigation.

The authorities earlier said the US intelligence community had no information about threats to the marathon ahead of the 15 April attacks.

After a classified briefing in the House intelligence committee on Wednesday, Democratic Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger said he believed the FBI was not at fault.

"I feel, based on the testimony today, that the FBI did exactly what they would do and they followed through the protocols that were necessary once they got that information," Mr Ruppersberger told reporters.

He also said he had been told the bombs were detonated with a "garage door opener-type of device".

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was injured during the police manhunt and remains in hospital in a fair condition.

Officers captured him as he hid in a boat covered by a tarpaulin in a garden in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Officials initially had said he exchanged gunfire with police for more than an hour before he was captured on Friday.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger: ''The FBI... followed through the protocols"

But the Associated Press quoted two unnamed officials as saying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been unarmed when he was captured.

Suspects' parents arriving

The younger brother has been charged in hospital with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death.

He could be sentenced to death if convicted on either count.

In bedside questioning, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has said he and his brother were angry about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the brothers are not believed to have had direct contact with a militant organisation, politicians said after closed-door briefings.

It is suspected the brothers became radicalised online.

The suspects' parents, Anzor Tsarnaev and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, are due to arrive in the US on Thursday, Russian media reported.

The Tsarnaev family has origins in the predominantly Muslim republic of Chechnya in southern Russia.

The brothers had been living in the US for about a decade at the time of the attack.

In 2012, Tamerlan Tsarnaev spent six months with relatives in Dagestan, another Russian republic, which has an Islamist militant insurgency.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Spain unemployment hits record high

25 April 2013 Last updated at 04:43 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The total number of people out of work has now passed the six million figure

Spain's unemployment rate soared to a new record of 27.2% of the workforce in the first quarter of 2013, according to official figures.

The total number of unemployed people in Spain has now passed the six million figure, although the rate of the increase has slowed.

The figures underline Spain's struggle to emerge from an economic crisis which began five years ago.

A big demonstration in Madrid is being planned against the austerity measures.

On Friday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will unveil fiscal and policy measures aimed at halting recession in the eurozone's fourth-largest economy.

"These figures are worse than expected and highlight the serious situation of the Spanish economy as well as the shocking decoupling between the real and the financial economy," said Jose Luis Martinez, strategist at Citi.

Continue reading the main story

Next year we will have growth and jobs will be created in our country"

End Quote Mariano Rajoy Spanish prime minister

Last week, the International Monetary Fund cut its 2013 forecast for Spain's growth to a 1.6% contraction from 1.5% and said the unemployment rate would peak at 27% this year.

Peak reached?

The unemployment figure is the highest since at least 1976, the year after dictator Francisco Franco's death began Spain's transition to democracy.

The jobless rate, which stood at 7.9% in mid-2007, has risen relentlessly since the collapse in 2008 of a Spain's labour-intensive property boom.

On Wednesday, Mr Rajoy told parliament that the job situation for the entire year "will not be good, but it will be less bad than in the preceding years".

"Next year we will have growth and jobs will be created in our country," he said.

Meanwhile, in France, the second biggest eurozone economy, official figures to be released later on Thursday are also expected to show a record number of jobless workers.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Frantic search for Dhaka survivors

25 April 2013 Last updated at 07:14 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

A man trapped in the rubble of the collapsed building in Dhaka

A search for survivors is continuing at a building which collapsed in a suburb of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, killing at least 200 people.

Rescue workers are working with volunteers to free survivors still believed to be trapped inside.

Tens of thousands of weeping family members are gathered at the site.

Police said the factory owners had ignored warnings not to allow their workers into the building after cracks were noticed on Tuesday.

The factory owners are now said to have gone into hiding. Police say that cases have been filed against the building owner and the owners of the factories for causing unlawful death.

The exact number of those trapped is not clear, but accounts from survivors and eyewitnesses suggest there may be hundreds still unaccounted for.

The disaster has prompted questions over Bangladesh's chronically poor safety standards.

Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing cheap clothing for major Western retailers which benefit from its widespread low-cost labour.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced a national day of mourning on Thursday in memory of the victims.

Local media reported thousands of garment workers in other areas of Dhaka had taken to the streets and blocked roads to protest at the deaths of the workers in Savar.

'Like a pancake'

Some 2,000 people were in the Rana Plaza building in Savar, some 30km (20 miles) outside Dhaka, when it collapsed suddenly on Wednesday morning.

Firefighters and soldiers joined volunteers in the effort to locate survivors in the mangled wreckage of concrete and steel.

Rescue workers and volunteers have been using heavy machinery and their bare hands to free survivors.

Continue reading the main story

• Nov 2012 - More than 100 workers die in a fire at a factory in Dhaka suburb of Tazreen
• March 2012 - More than 100 people die as a ferry collides with an oil tanker and sinks
• June 2010 - Four-storey building in Dhaka caves in, killing at least 25 people
• April 2005 A garment factory collapses in Savar, killing 73 people
• May 2002 - Up to 500 people die when a river ferry sinks during a storm

Trapped workers can be heard inside the rubble, screaming for help. Food and water is being passed to survivors through gaps in the the rubble.

Lengths of textile that were earlier being cut into garments - many destined for Western consumers - were now being used as makeshift slides to evacuate survivors and corpses.

Mosammat Khursida told the Associated Press (AP) news agency she was looking for her husband.

"He came to work in the morning. I can't find him," she said. "I don't know where he is. He does not pick up his phone."

Lines of relatives filed by numbered bodies of victims, looking for their family members.

"Save us brother. I beg you brother. I want to live... It's so painful here ... I have two little children," Mohammad Altab, a garment worker trapped in the building told rescuers, according to AP.

Only the ground floor of the building remained intact, officials said.

"The whole building collapsed like a pancake within minutes. Most workers did not have any chance to escape," national fire department chief Ahmed Ali told AFP news agency.

Local hospitals were overwhelmed with the arrival of more than 1,000 injured people.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Bangladeshi factory worker: "In one minute everything collapsed"

Speaking at the scene, Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir said the building had violated construction codes and "the culprits would be punished".

There are reports that the building owner had illegally added three extra stories to the building.

'Catch-22'

In November, a fire at a garment factory in the Dhaka suburb of Tazreen drew international attention to working conditions in Bangladesh's textile industry.

Primark, a clothes retailer with a large presence in Britain, confirmed that one of its suppliers was on the second floor of the Rana Plaza.

It said it was "shocked and deeply saddened by the appalling incident" and that it would work with other retailers to review standards.

Discount giant Wal-Mart - which was found to be sourcing products from the Tazreen factory - said it was still trying to establish whether its goods were being produced at the Rana Plaza.

"We remain committed and are actively engaged in promoting stronger safety measures, and that work continues,'' said Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner.

A company called New Wave, with two factories in the building, supplies firms from around Europe, the US and Canada.

Meanwhile, Spanish retailer Mango said it had not been using any of the suppliers in the building but had been in talks with one of them to produce a batch of test products.

Edward Hertzman, a textiles broker based in New York, told Reuters news agency that pressure from US retailers to keep costs down was in part responsible for unsafe conditions.

"Bangladesh is the longest lead-time country and a difficult country to work in, so the only way it becomes competitive is by offering the lowest [cost]. That's the catch-22," he said.

"If the factories want to raise prices to make up for rising wages and costs, the buyers say: 'Oh why do we want to go to Bangladesh if I could go to China, Pakistan, Cambodia etc for a similar price?"

He said if Western companies really wanted safety standards to improve, they would have to accept that they needed to start paying higher prices.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

At least 70 dead in Dhaka collapse

24 April 2013 Last updated at 06:05 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Efforts are under way to rescue those beneath the debris

At least 70 people have been killed and many more are feared trapped after an eight-storey building collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, government officials say.

Frantic efforts are under way to rescue those beneath the debris. At least 200 were injured by the collapse.

The army is helping with the rescue operation in the Savar area.

Building collapses are common in Bangladesh where many multi-storey blocks are built in violation of rules.

The eight-storey building contained a clothing factory, a bank and several other shops. It collapsed during the morning rush hour.

Many people have gathered near the scene looking for friends and relatives.

"My friends have rushed to the scene of the building collapse to give blood. They say it's chaos down there," Dhaka resident Tahsin Mahmoo told the BBC.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan, in Dhaka, says that it is not yet clear what caused the collapse but local media reports said a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday.

Rescue workers are using concrete cutters and cranes to dig through the rubble, our correspondent says.

One doctor at a nearby hospital said it "could not handle" the volume of casualties coming in.

"I have not seen so many patients being brought in like this before," Dr Imrul Hasan Warsi told the BBC.

Local police chief Mohammad Asaduzzaman told the Reuters news agency that factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after the crack was detected.

Police told local media that the rear of the building suddenly started to collapse on Wednesday morning and within a short time the whole structure - except the main pillar and parts of the front wall - had caved-in, triggering panic.

Continue reading the main story

Anbarasan Ethirajan BBC News, Dhaka

---

Grieving relatives have been anxiously waiting outside the collapsed building in Savar. Rescue teams have been working frantically using concrete cutters and cranes digging through the rubble to pull people out. The army has also been deployed in the rescue operation.

It is still not clear how many people are trapped inside, although local media say there are hundreds. The eight-storey building contained a clothing factory, a bank and several other shops. A doctor at the local hospital told the BBC that more dead bodies are being brought and their services had been stretched.

The reason for the collapse is not yet known. The latest incident has once again raised questions on safety standards in the country's thriving garments industry. However, factory owners say safety standards have improved significantly in recent years.

Only the ground floor of the Rana Plaza in Sava remained intact after the collapse, officials said, as army and fire service rescuers equipped with concrete cutters and cranes dug through rubble to pull out trapped people. Many onlookers also joined the effort using their bare hands.

An opposition strike planned for today has been called off to aid the rescue effort, local media reports say.

Survivors have described their terror as the collapse began.

"I was in the cutting section of the garment factory and suddenly we heard a huge noise and the building collapsed within a few minutes," a garment worker told private Somoy TV.

"I removed the rubble and came out with two other workers. But at least 30 other workers in my cutting section were still unaccounted for," he said.

In November, a fire at a garment factory in a Dhaka suburb killed at least 110 people and triggered a public outcry about safety standards in the industry.

The last major building collapse was in 2010, when a four-storey building collapsed in Dhaka killing at least 25 people and injuring several others.

Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing competitively priced clothes for major Western retailers which benefit from its widespread low-cost labour.

Following November's fire, Western retail chains who buy from factories in Bangladesh urged factory owners to improve safety standards, our correspondent reports.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

Read the terms and conditions

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Trial of Russian activist resumes

24 April 2013 Last updated at 06:09 ET

The trial on embezzlement charges of one of Russia's leading opposition figures, Alexei Navalny, has resumed.

Mr Navalny is accused of involvement in the misappropriation of 16m roubles (£300,000; $500,000) from a state timber firm he advised while working for the governor of the Kirov region.

The 36-year-old, who is known for his blogs denouncing President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party as corrupt, could face up to 10 years in prison.

He has called the charges "absurd".

In a recent interview with the BBC, Mr Navalny accused Mr Putin of personally ordering his prosecution in an effort to discredit him.

'Tendentious'

Mr Navalny's trial in the city of Kirov, about 900km (560 miles) north-east of Moscow, began a week ago but was quickly adjourned after his lawyers said they needed more time to read the case files.

Continue reading the main story

Turning occasionally to the phalanx of cameras behind him, Alexei Navalny sat at the front of the court in his trademark open-necked shirt. His lawyers are challenging every aspect of the case - the venue, the length of time they have had to read the documentation, and the "self-contradictory" charges.

Alexei Navalny has been quite clear - he says this is a political trial.

Many of those who have followed his rise tend to agree with him. He has become a threat to the Russian political establishment. He has hit them where it hurts, by exposing the extraordinary levels of corruption in their ranks. He has written about it with savage ferocity laced with poisonous sarcasm.

Many of the tens of thousands who took to the streets last year were there because of him. He has become one of the Putin government's most successful opponents.

Eventually he attracted the attention of Russia's equivalent of the FBI - the Investigative Committee - which has become an increasingly politicised force. Now, in front of a judge who has not acquitted anyone in more than 130 cases, it seems likely that he is going to prison.

The trial resumed on Wednesday but was twice adjourned as the judge withdrew to consider requests by the defence to send the case back to prosecutors, citing violations by the investigators.

Speaking to reporters after the judge ordered the second recess, Mr Navalny denounced the case against him.

"It's raw, it's tendentious, there are different numbers cited everywhere, different amounts of timber are mentioned, and so on," he said.

He also insisted his innocence would be apparent even if he was convicted.

"At the end of the trial, we will certainly win. I'm sure that a lack of guilt will be established. Even if it is not formally acknowledged by the court, it will be clear for everyone who attends the trial."

Outside, a Navalny supporter put up a large sign saying: "Putin is a thief."

Aside from the embezzlement charges, three other criminal cases have been opened against Mr Navalny.

Last Thursday, the federal Investigative Committee announced that he and his brother were suspected of organising a 3.8m-rouble (£79,000; $121,000) fraud involving mail deliveries in 2008.

A spokeswoman for the activist said the latest allegations were the authorities' "reaction to the massive public support that we're receiving".

Mr Navalny is the most high-profile opposition figure to be tried since anti-Putin protests 16 months ago, which saw the biggest demonstrations in Moscow since the fall of the USSR.

Since Mr Putin's re-election in March 2011, legal action against opposition figures has increased markedly. Tough laws have been passed on public order offences and tight curbs placed on non-governmental organisations.

Analysts say Mr Navalny's conviction would be a major blow to an opposition which for years suffered the lack of a central figure or platform.

Mr Navalny's case is highlighted in a report published by Human Rights Watch, which warns that Russia is violating its international human rights commitments.

"The new laws and government harassment are pushing civil society activists to the margins of the law," said Hugh Williamson, the group's Europe and Central Asia director. "The government crackdown is hurting Russian society and harming Russia's international standing."

"Russia's international partners should leave no doubt about the seriousness with which they view the crackdown underway in Russia, and impress upon Moscow the urgent need to stop abuses," he added.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Parents of Boston suspects quizzed

24 April 2013 Last updated at 06:17 ET

US officials have travelled to the Russian republic of Dagestan to speak to the parents of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev lived briefly in Dagestan, and Tamerlan made a lengthy visit there in 2012.

The US is seeking more information on the visit, and whether he became radicalised through his contacts there.

Tamerlan died in the police operation to capture the brothers. Dzhokhar, the younger of the two, was injured.

He remains in hospital with serious injuries, and has been charged by federal prosecutors with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death. He could be sentenced to death if convicted on either count.

The twin bombs which exploded near the finishing line of the marathon killed three people and injured more than 200, many of them seriously.

The Tsarnaev brothers had origins in the troubled, predominantly Muslim republic of Chechnya in southern Russia.

Continue reading the main story

The Tsarnaev brothers

• Sons of Chechen refugees from the troubled Caucasus region of southern Russia
• Family is thought to have moved to the US in 2002 from Russian republic of Dagestan
• They lived in the Massachusetts town of Cambridge, home to Harvard University
• Dzhokhar, 19, (right) was awarded a scholarship to pursue further education; he wanted to become a brain surgeon, according to his father
• Tamerlan, 26, was an amateur boxer who had reportedly taken time off college to train for a competition; he described himself as a "very religious" non-drinker and non-smoker

They had been living in the US for about a decade at the time of the attack, but in 2012, Tamerlan Tsarnaev returned to Russia to visit. He spent six months in Chechnya and bordering Dagestan, another Muslim Russian republic which has struggled to shake off an Islamist insurgency.

The brothers' parents, Anzor and Zubeidat Tsarnaev, have said they believe they are innocent and were framed by US security forces.

On Tuesday, a delegation from the US embassy in Moscow arrived in Dagestan to interview them.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg, in Dagestan, says those discussions lasted long into the night.

It was unclear exactly which officials were carrying out the interviews, but an embassy official told the AFP news agency: "The FBI is receiving co-operation from the Russian government in its investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing."

The interior minister of Dagestan, however, has denied that the dead suspect became a follower of radical Islam while staying in the republic, Russia's Interfax news agency reports.

Abdurashid Magomedov said the allegations were "an attempt to shift the blame", and that there is no record of him having contact with the "bandit underground" in the region.

Spotlight on FBI

Meanwhile, US law enforcement agencies are facing questions at home over whether they could have done more to prevent the 15 April attacks, and whether the FBI failed to act on Russian concerns that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was becoming radicalised.

Continue reading the main story

Questions for the FBI

• Why was no further action taken after the 2011 investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev?
• Why was he not identified as a threat based on links to radical websites?
• Why were the authorities unaware of his visit to Russia in 2012?

He was questioned in 2011 amid claims he had adopted radical Islam.

After a closed hearing on Tuesday, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee said steps could be taken to improve information sharing between agencies.

Republican Senator Susan Collins said there appeared to be "serious problems with sharing information, including critical investigative information... not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case", the Associated Press (AP) news agency reports.

The vice-chairman of the committee, Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, said he could not see "anybody yet that dropped the ball", but that he was still seeking information on whether information was properly shared.

"If it wasn't, we've got to fix this," AP quoted him as saying.

On Monday, a 10-page criminal complaint was filed against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev during a court hearing around his hospital bed.

According to a transcript of the hearing, he managed to speak once despite a gunshot wound to his throat sustained during his capture.

Anonymous officials have told US media that 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said he and his 26-year-old brother had planned the attack themselves without help from foreign militants.

The officials say that his written answers lead them to believe the pair were motivated by jihadist ideology and had devised the bombings using the internet.

However, the sources also said the interviews were preliminary and they needed to verify the defendant's responses.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Letta nominated as Italy's next PM

24 April 2013 Last updated at 07:04 ET

Enrico Letta is expected to become Italy's new prime minister, after being asked by President Giorgio Napolitano to form a coalition government.

The appointment of Mr Letta, currently deputy leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, could see the end two months of parliamentary deadlock.

An inconclusive general election in February has left the country in flux.

A broad alliance would include Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing group - making him again a major political influence.

This awkward coming together of bitter rivals is seen as the only way to end the parliamentary stalemate and put an administration in place, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome.

But it is a forced political marriage that may not last long, our correspondent adds.

The new government would be expected to try to implement a limited range of economic and institutional reforms.

Among its priorities would be an effort to re-shape the current election law.

The aim would be to ensure that future general elections would deliver more emphatic, clear-cut results.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Japan warns China on islands landing

23 April 2013 Last updated at 03:19 ET

Japan would respond with force if any attempt is made to land on disputed islands, PM Shinzo Abe has warned.

His comments came as eight Chinese government ships sailed near East China Sea islands that both nations claim.

A flotilla of 10 fishing boats carrying Japanese activists was also reported to be in the area, as well as the Japanese coastguard.

Mr Abe was speaking in parliament hours after dozens of lawmakers visited a controversial war-linked shrine.

A total of 168 lawmakers paid their respects at the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japan's war dead, including war criminals, in a move likely to anger regional neighbours who say the shrine is a reminder of Japan's military past.

'Deal strongly'

The warning from the Japanese prime minister was the most explicit to China since Mr Abe took power in December, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Tokyo.

Asked in parliament what he would do if Chinese ships tried to land on the disputed islands, Mr Abe said they would be expelled by force.

"Since it has become the Abe government, we have made sure that if there is an instance where there is an intrusion into our territory or it seems that there could be landing on the islands then we will deal will it strongly," he said.

The warning came as eight Chinese ships sailed around the islands - called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

The Japanese coast guard said it was the highest number of Chinese boats in the area since Tokyo nationalised part of the island chain in September 2012.

China said its ships had been monitoring Japanese vessels. The State Oceanic Administration issued a statement saying three of its ships had "found" several Japanese ships around the islands and "immediately ordered another five ships in the East China Sea to meet the three ships".

Ten Japanese boats carrying around 80 activists arrived in the area early on Tuesday, Reuters news agency reported, monitored by Japanese Coast Guard vessels. Public broadcaster NHK said the boats were carrying "regional lawmakers and members of the foreign media".

Japan's top government spokesman said the "intrusion into territorial waters" was "extremely regrettable". Japan also summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest, reports said.

The territorial row has been rumbling for years but was reignited last year when Japan bought three of the islands from their private Japanese owner.

China claims the island chain, which is controlled by Japan. Taiwan also claims the islands, which offer rich fishing grounds and lie in a strategically important area.

The dispute has led to serious diplomatic tension between China and Japan, most recently in January when Japan said a Chinese frigate locked weapons-controlling radar on one of its navy ships near the islands - something China disputes.

'Backlash'

The visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday by lawmakers marking the spring festival is also likely to hit ties between Beijing and Tokyo.

Continue reading the main story

• Built in 1869 under the Emperor Meiji
• Venerates the souls of Japan's war dead
• Those enshrined include convicted war criminals
• Japan's neighbours say it represents the country's past militarism

Two cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, visited the shrine on Sunday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not visit but made a ritual offering.

South Korea subsequently cancelled a proposed visit by its foreign minister, while China lodged "solemn representations" in response to the ministers' visit.

"Only when Japan faces up to its aggressive past can it embrace the future and develop friendly relations with its Asian neighbours," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday.

But Japanese lawmaker Hidehisa Otsujji said it was "natural" for "lawmakers to worship at a shrine for people who died for the nation".

"Every nation does this. I don't understand why we get a backlash," he said.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Car bomb at French embassy in Libya

23 April 2013 Last updated at 06:17 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The BBC's Rana Jawad reports from Tripoli

A car bomb has exploded outside the French embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli, wounding two French guards and causing major damage.

The blast completely destroyed the embassy's reception area and parts of neighbouring homes, the BBC's Rana Jawad reports from the scene.

French President Francois Hollande called on Libya to act swiftly over this "unacceptable" attack.

It is the first major attack on a foreign embassy in the Libyan capital.

'Big mistake'

Tuesday's explosion happened shortly after 07:00 (05:00 GMT) in a smart, residential area of Tripoli.

One of the embassy's guards was severely wounded while the other suffered lighter injuries. Several residents were also slightly hurt.

The blast took place in a small side street and left a scene of devastation, our correspondent says.

Continue reading the main story

It was a big mistake to site the French embassy in our neighbourhood"

End Quote Local resident

As well as extensive damage to the embassy's building and perimeter wall, two nearby homes were badly damaged and others affected, the windows of a shop were blown out and two parked cars were burnt out.

Many neighbours who gathered in the street to survey the damage were shaken and upset by what had happened, our correspondent reports.

They told her that there was a lack of proper policing for such a potentially high-profile target.

"It was a big mistake to site the French embassy in our neighbourhood," a local resident said.

President Hollande said the attack had targeted "all countries in the international community engaged in the fight against terrorism".

"France expects the Libyan authorities to shed the fullest light on this unacceptable act, so that the perpetrators are identified and brought to justice," he said.

France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius - who is on his way to Libya - said French officials would work closely with the Libyan authorities to find out who was responsible for what he called an "odious act".

Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz condemned the bombing as a "terrorist act", but did not speculate on who might be behind it.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

French embassies across northern Africa have been on high alert since France sent in troops to help fight an Islamist insurgency in Mali in January.

France, under Nicolas Sarkozy, was at the forefront of Nato-led air strikes in 2011 that helped rebel forces topple long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi was attacked by armed men in September 2012, leading to the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other American officials.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

FBI faces Boston suspect questions

23 April 2013 Last updated at 06:28 ET

US security officials are to face questions in Congress over whether they mishandled information about Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

They will brief the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed hearing, after some Congress members accused the FBI of failing to act on Russian concerns.

Tsarnaev was questioned in 2011 amid claims he had adopted radical Islam.

He was killed in a manhunt after the attack but his wounded brother Dzhokhar has been charged over the bombings.

Federal prosecutors charged him in hospital with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death. He could be sentenced to death if convicted on either count.

Both men had origins in the troubled, predominantly Muslim republic of Chechnya in southern Russia. They had been living in the US for about a decade at the time of the attack.

Continue reading the main story

Questions for the FBI

• Why was no further action taken after 2011 investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev?
• Why was he not identified as a threat based on links to radical websites?
• Why were the authorities unaware of his visit to Russia in 2012?

The twin bombs which exploded near the finishing line of the marathon killed three people and injured more than 200.

Of those injured, 13 lost limbs. More than 50 people remain in hospital, three of them in a critical condition.

No evidence

Members of Congress want to know why no further action was taken after Tamerlan Tsarnaev was investigated in 2011 at the request of the Russian government.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the intelligence committee, said that she and her colleagues would have to "sort it out" when they met FBI officials later on Tuesday.

The full Senate is expected to receive a briefing later in the week.

The FBI has defended itself, saying in a statement on Friday that it ran checks on the suspect but found no evidence of terrorist activity.

A request to Russia for more information to justify more rigorous checks went unanswered, and an interview by agents with Tsarnaev and his family also revealed nothing suspicious.

But Republican Senator Lindsey Graham questioned why the FBI was unable to identify him as a threat based on his alleged links to radical websites.

Continue reading the main story

The Tsarnaev brothers

• Sons of Chechen refugees from the troubled Caucasus region of southern Russia
• Family is thought to have moved to the US in 2002 from Russian republic of Dagestan
• They lived in the Massachusetts town of Cambridge, home to Harvard University
• Dzhokhar, 19, (right) was awarded a scholarship to pursue further education; he wanted to become a brain surgeon, according to his father
• Tamerlan, 26, was an amateur boxer who had reportedly taken time off college to train for a competition; he described himself as a "very religious" non-drinker and non-smoker

He called for better co-operation with Russia and the amendment of privacy laws to allow closer scrutiny of suspects' internet activity.

Senator Graham added that the US authorities did not know Tsarnaev had gone to Russia in 2012 because his name was misspelled in travel documents.

He spent six months in Dagestan, another mainly Muslim Russian republic bordering Chechnya. During the visit, he also reportedly spent two days in Chechnya itself.

Tsarnaev, 26, was killed during a manhunt last Friday. His 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar was later captured but was seriously wounded and remains in hospital.

No motive found

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attended a hearing on Monday from his hospital bed, where a 10-page criminal complaint was filed against him.

At the hearing, he managed to speak once despite a gunshot wound to his throat sustained during his capture.

Mr Tsarnaev, 19, said the word "no" when asked if he could afford a lawyer. Otherwise he nodded in response to Judge Marianne Bowler's questions from his bed at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The next hearing in his case has been scheduled for the end of May.

The complaint seeks to locate both suspects at the scene of the bombing and then pieces together the operation to intercept them three days later, as they allegedly drove a hijacked car near the city, hours after images of their faces were broadcast by the media.

No mention is made of their possible reasons for attacking the marathon.

Some reports say the brothers do not appear to have been linked to any Islamist militant groups, and little has emerged to suggest the younger brother was a religious militant.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iran denies Canada terror plot link

23 April 2013 Last updated at 07:14 ET

Iran has denied any links to two men arrested in Canada on suspicion of planning an attack on a train.

Canadian officials said an attack had been planned with support from al-Qaeda elements in Iran, although there was no evidence of state sponsorship.

Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, are due to appear in court on Tuesday for a bail hearing.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said to suggest a link between al-Qaeda and Iran was "ridiculous".

"This is the most hilarious thing I've heard in my 64 years," Mr Salehi told the Iranian Isna news agency.

Continue reading the main story

• Plot to derail train on VIA Rail network, which carries nearly four million passengers annually
• Suspects not Canadian nationals but were in Canada legally
• Chiheb Esseghaier studying for doctorate at National Institute for Scientific Research near Montreal
• Reports say Raed Jaser is a customer service representative at a removal firm

"It is really ridiculous to link al-Qaeda to Iran. I hope that the Canadian authorities think a bit more rationally and pay attention to the consciousness of the people and world public opinion."

Al-Qaeda - a militant Salafist Islamic movement - preaches a radical anti-Shia ideology that places it firmly at odds with Shia Iran.

However, analysts say that despite this enmity, al-Qaeda and Iran have tolerated one another where it suits them.

Last September Canada severed diplomatic ties with Iran, closing its embassy in Tehran and expelling all remaining Iranian diplomats from Canada.

At the time Foreign Minister John Baird said Canada viewed Iran "as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today".

Canadian authorities said the two suspects were arrested in Montreal and Toronto on Monday. They are not Canadian citizens but their nationalities have not yet been officially confirmed.

According to Canadian media reports, Mr Esseghaier is a Tunisian national while Mr Jaser is thought to be a Palestinian with citizenship in the United Arab Emirates.

Canada's Globe and Mail reported that the pair had been under investigation since last year following a tip-off by a concerned imam in the Toronto Muslim community.

The imam was worried that young people in his community were being corrupted by an extremist, the report said.

FBI involved

It is alleged that the two had planned to derail a passenger train in the greater Toronto area, but it is not clear when.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said the surveillance operation leading to the arrests was "a result of extensive collaborative efforts".

It said FBI agents from the US were involved in helping to foil the attack, although a US justice department official said there was no connection between the plot and last week's Boston Marathon bombings.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Assistant Commissioner James Malizia: "Innocent people would have been killed or seriously injured"

The RCMP said the two men, who were not Canadian citizens, had planned to derail a train operated by VIA Rail and "kill and hurt people".

RCMP Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan said the attack was "definitely in the planning stage but not imminent".

"We are alleging that these two individuals took steps and conducted activities to initiate a terrorist attack," she said.

"They watched trains and railways in the Greater Toronto area."

Chief Supt Strachan did not say if the route being targeted was a cross-border route with the US.

However, the Globe and Mail, citing sources, said it involved a Toronto-New York City train, and New York Republican Representative Peter King said the attack was intended "to cause significant loss of human life including New Yorkers".

VIA Rail, which operates passenger rail services across Canada, said that "at no time" were passengers or members of the public in imminent danger.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said the arrests showed that terrorism continued to be a real threat to Canada.

"Canada will not tolerate terrorist activity and we will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists or those who support terrorist activity," he said in parliament.

'Fled to Iran'

Analysts say Iran's links with al-Qaeda are shadowy and complex.

Some of the group's senior figures - including Osama Bin Laden's son, Saad Bin Laden, and former security chief Saif al-Adel - are said to have fled to Iran after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

They were allegedly held under house arrest by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard, although Tehran never acknowledged their presence.

According to the US, Saif al-Adel's father-in-law, Mustafa Hamid, is the link between al-Qaeda and the Iranian government.

After the fall of the Taliban, he is said to have negotiated the safe relocation of several senior al-Qaeda members and their families to Iran. In mid-2003, he was arrested by the Iranian authorities.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

New video reveals Burmese violence

22 April 2013 Last updated at 01:40 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Much of the footage was shot by the Burmese police. This report contains images of violence which you may find upsetting

The BBC has obtained police video showing officers standing by while Buddhist rioters attacked minority Muslims in the town of Meiktila.

The footage shows a mob destroying a Muslim gold shop and then setting fire to houses. A man thought to be a Muslim is seen on fire.

It was filmed last month, when at least 43 people were killed in Meiktila.

Meanwhile the EU is expected to decide whether to lift sanctions imposed on Burma, in response to recent reforms.

It is thought likely that despite concerns about the treatment of minorities, Brussels will confirm that the sanctions, which were suspended a year ago, are now permanently lifted.

The sanctions include the freezing of assets of more than 1,000 Burmese companies, travel restrictions on officials, and a ban on EU investment in many areas. However, an arms embargo is expected to remain in place.

The move is a response to political change under President Thein Sein, who came to power after elections in November 2010. His administration has freed many political prisoners and relaxed censorship.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for many years, leads a pro-democracy opposition which has a small presence in parliament.

Documented violence

Some human rights groups, however, have warned that sanctions should not be lifted until the government addresses issues including recent violence against Muslims.

The video from Meiktila, in Mandalay Region, is remarkable both for the comprehensive way it documents the violence and because much of it was shot by the Burmese police themselves, the BBC's Jonah Fisher reports from Singapore.

In the sequence where policemen look on as a man rolls on the ground having been set on fire, the watching crowd are heard to say, "No water for him - let him die".

Another sequence shows a young man attempting to flee and getting caught, after which he is beaten by a group of men, which includes a monk.

A savage blow with a sword strikes him and he is left on the ground, presumed dead.

Only in one shot are the police seen escorting Muslim women and children away from their burning homes.

The footage corroborates eyewitness testimony. A row at a Muslim-owned gold shop on 20 March was said to have started the violence, when a dispute involving a Buddhist couple escalated into a fight.

This was followed by an attack on a Buddhist monk, who later died in hospital. News of that incident appeared to have sparked off sustained communal violence.

The violence then spread to other towns and led to curfews being imposed. There were reports of mosques and houses being torched in at least three towns.

The gold shop's owner, his wife and an employee were convicted of theft and assault on 12 April and jailed for 14 years. Dozens of other Muslims and Buddhists are said to be under investigation.

Deadly clashes

Violence between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in another part of Burma, Rakhine state, last year following the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in May.

Clashes in June and October resulted in the deaths of about 200 people. Thousands of people, mainly members of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, fled their homes and remain displaced.

On Monday, the New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) presented a report containing what it said was clear evidence of government complicity in ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity against Muslims in Rakhine state.

It said security forces stood aside or joined in when mobs attacked Muslim communities in nine townships, razing villages and killing residents.

It said HRW also discovered four mass-grave sites in Rakhine state, which it said security forces used to destroy evidence of the crimes.

However, the allegations were rejected by Win Myaing, a government spokesman for Rakhine state, AP news agency reported.

HRW investigators didn't "understand the situation on the ground," he said, adding that the government had no prior knowledge of the impending attacks, and deployed forces to stop the unrest.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

US awaits 'Boston bomber' charges

22 April 2013 Last updated at 04:35 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The refusal of US authorities to read the Boston Marathon bombing suspect his rights is met with differing opinions among Bostonians

US federal prosecutors are preparing charges against the surviving Boston Marathon bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as more details emerge of his capture.

If he is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill people, he could face the death penalty.

Mr Tsarnaev is in hospital, unable to speak because of a wound to the throat.

US media quoted anonymous sources as saying he had been responding to questions in writing, but this has not been officially confirmed.

The FBI's Boston field office and the Boston police department both said the information did not come from them.

Boston's Mayor Tom Menino had earlier told ABC News that "we don't know if we'll ever be able to question the individual".

But the ABC, NBC and CBS networks all reported late on Sunday that the suspect was responding in writing to interrogation. This included questions about possible cell members and other explosives.

"We have a million questions and those questions need to be answered," said Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, quoted by Reuters news agency.

Continue reading the main story

The Tsarnaev brothers

• Sons of Chechen refugees from the troubled Caucasus region of southern Russia
• Family is thought to have moved to the US in 2001, from Russian republic of Dagestan
• They lived in the Massachusetts town of Cambridge, home to Harvard University
• Dzhokhar, 19, (right) was awarded a scholarship to pursue further education; he wanted to become a brain surgeon, according to his father
• Tamerlan, 26, was an amateur boxer who had reportedly taken time off college to train for a competition; he described himself as a "very religious" non-drinker and non-smoker

The suspect was captured on Friday evening after a huge manhunt during which Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's elder brother and suspected fellow bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died.

Police believe the 19-year-old Dzhokhar may have killed his brother himself, running him over in a car as he fled capture on Thursday night.

Monday's twin bomb attack on the Boston Marathon finish line killed a boy of eight and two women, and injured more than 180, of whom 13 lost limbs.

One policeman was killed and another injured during the manhunt.

Governor Patrick has asked Bostonians to observe a moment of silence for the victims at 14:50 local time (18:50 GMT).

A funeral service will also be held on Monday for one of the victims, 29-year-old restaurant worker Krystle Campbell.

'Throw the book at him'

No motive for the attack has been established. The brothers, who originate from Chechnya in southern Russia, had been living in the US for about a decade.

It is unclear when the charges will be filed against the suspect.

In addition to the federal charges, prosecutors for the state of Massachusetts, which does not have the death penalty, may file their own.

Mayor Menino said he hoped the federal prosecutor for Massachusetts, Carmen Ortiz, "takes him [Dzhokhar Tsarnaev] on the federal side and throws the book at him".

Interrogators are not reading Mr Tsarnaev his Miranda rights, which guarantee the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer.

This exception is allowed on a limited basis when the public may be in immediate danger.

Boston police commissioner Ed Davis said on Sunday he believed the brothers had probably been planning further attacks.

Continue reading the main story

Suspects' origins

Chechnya (pair were ethnic Chechens): Southern Russian republic, rich in oil. Infrastructure hit by years of war between separatists and Russian forces, banditry and organised crime. Improved security situation has led to increased investment in reconstruction projects. But sporadic attacks by separatists continue.

Dagestan (pair lived here for several years): Southern Russian republic, translating as "land of the mountains", famed for ethnic and linguistic diversity. A long-running militant Islamist insurgency is a thorn in the authorities' side. Dagestan has oil reserves and a strong manufacturing sector, but rampant corruption and organised crime .

The federal public defender's office in Massachusetts has agreed to represent Mr Tsarnaev once he is charged.

He is being treated in Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for injuries he sustained before his capture, when he was found hiding in a boat in the backyard of a house in Watertown, a suburb of Boston.

'Run over'

Watertown's police chief, Ed Deveau, has said he believes Dzhokhar Tsarnaev mortally injured his brother just after their firefight with police.

It was initially reported that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, had died of bullet and blast injuries.

Mr Deveau told the Boston Globe newspaper, however, that Dzhokhar had driven over him in a stolen SUV, dragging him on the pavement and apparently inflicting the injuries that killed him.

After Tamerlan shot at police and apparently ran out of bullets, the police chief said, officers tackled him.

They were trying to apply handcuffs when the SUV came roaring at them, with Dzhokhar at the wheel. The officers scattered and the SUV ran over Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Mr Deveau said.

Abandoning the car, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev fled the scene on foot, he said.

The same newspaper reports that Tamerlan Tsarnaev disrupted a mosque in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in January when he objected to the speaker comparing the Prophet Muhammad to civil rights champion Martin Luther King.

He reportedly told the speaker "You are a kafir [unbeliever]", and said he was contaminating people's minds and was a hypocrite.

Separately, US lawmakers on Sunday questioned why the FBI had failed to spot the danger from Tamerlan Tsarnaev after Russia had asked the US agency to question him two years ago.

18.19 | 0 komentar | Read More