India budget to boost investment

28 February 2015 Last updated at 08:25

Indian PM Narendra Modi's government has unveiled a business-friendly budget aimed at attracting greater investment for the economy.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced an unprecedented corporate tax cut, in the government's first full budget.

But he also proposed major benefits for the poor, introducing a universal social security scheme.

India will grow at a rate of more than 8% during 2015-16, a key economic report said ahead of the budget.

The growth forecast follows the country's new way of calculating GDP which has caused some confusion.

Presenting the budget in parliament Mr Jaitley said the country was growing at a strong rate, inflation was down and foreign exchange reserves were high.

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Justin Rowlatt asks if India will overtake China's economy

"We inherited a sentiment of doom and gloom. The investment community had almost written us off. We have come a long way since then," he said.

"We have turned around the economy, dramatically restoring macroeconomic stability and creating the conditions for sustainable poverty elimination, job creation, durable double digit economic growth."

Among the major announcements made by Mr Jaitley are:

• Five "ultra mega" power projects of 4,000 megawatts (MW) will be built to ease the energy crisis
• Spending on infrastructure will be raised by $11.3bn (£7.32bn) to boost growth
• Creating a "universal social security" that would give poor Indians access to subsidised insurance and pensions
• Implementation of a uniform countrywide goods and services tax (GST) by April 2016
• Welfare money to be paid directly into people's bank accounts to eliminate corruption and wastage
• Wealth tax to be abolished and replaced by a surcharge on the super rich
• Corporate tax to be cut by 25% over next four years

Radhika Rao, an economist with DBS in Singapore told Reuters news agency that Saturday's budget was "pragmatic, wide-ranging and inclusive given the emphasis on social safety nets".

Analysts say the government's challenge will be to balance its spending with the need for fiscal restraint.

Mr Jaitley said the government would achieve its goal of cutting the fiscal deficit to 4.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2014-15 from 4.5% the year before.

Budget analysis: Simon Atkinson, Editor, India Business Report

Some had billed this budget as being the most significant since 1991 - which effectively liberalised India's economy.

But Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's closing lines were basically admitting this was a budget lacking "Big Bang" reforms.

The devil will be in the detail as we plough through the small print.

A firm start date for a much-needed goods and services tax, billions of dollars for infrastructure and a "no surprises" lower corporate tax, strike me as the big business announcements.

Not using the low oil price as a chance to make more sweeping cuts to the vast subsidy bill could well prove to be a missed opportunity.

But if the proposals for a universal social security system ever reach fruition - offering a safety net for the hundreds of millions of India's poorest - history will surely judge that as the stand-out announcement of this much-hyped budget.

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US avoids homeland security shutdown

28 February 2015 Last updated at 05:53

The US Homeland Security Department has avoided a partial shutdown as Congress passed a one-week funding extension, hours before a midnight deadline.

The House of Representatives voted 357-60 in favour of the short-term bill after it had been passed in the Senate.

President Barack Obama, who said he would back a short-term deal to avert a shutdown, signed it shortly afterwards.

It ensures the department's 250,000 employees will be paid while a longer-term funding agreement is discussed.

The two-thirds majority vote was reached about two hours before the midnight (05:00 GMT Saturday) deadline.

Earlier, Republicans had rejected a similar three-week extension after provisions against President Obama's immigration plan were dropped.

The one-week deal was backed by a majority of Democrats despite many of them voting against the earlier bill in the hope that a longer-term deal could be agreed.

The move came shortly after President Obama had spoken by phone to Democratic leaders in a bid to avert the partial department closure.

The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for securing US borders, airports and coastal waters.

About 200,000 "essential" department employees would have continued to work without pay if the agency's funding had not been secured.

Effects of a Homeland Security shutdown

• Airport security agents required to work without pay
• Employers would not have the ability to use a programme called E-Verify to check if new employees are authorised to work legally in the US
• No grants made to local and state authorities, including for training and new equipment
• Secret Service will not be able to hire agents to protect 2016 presidential candidates
• Civil rights and civil liberties complaint lines and investigations will be shut down

Some Republicans had wanted to use the funding of the department, which includes immigration officials, as a bargaining chip to force President Obama to end policies on immigration.

Last November, Mr Obama used his executive powers to protect about five million undocumented immigrants from deportation. Republicans say Mr Obama overstepped his powers in doing so.

A separate ruling by a federal judge has blocked those policies from starting while a lawsuit by more than two dozen states goes forward.

Some Republicans senators had expressed a desire to fight the executive actions in the courts, rather than threaten the department's funding.

The BBC's Naomi Grimley in Washington says many on Capitol Hill feared a public backlash if the funding had been thrown into doubt at a time of fears about "lone wolf" terrorists.

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Will undocumented people come forward amid uncertainty?

On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson urged Congress to pass full funding.

"A short-term continuing resolution exacerbates the uncertainty for my workforce and puts us back in the same position, on the brink of a shutdown just days from now," Mr Johnson said.

Last week, the White House said Mr Obama would prefer a full funding bill but would sign a short-term measure to prevent a shutdown.

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Most-wanted Mexico drug lord held

28 February 2015 Last updated at 06:55

Mexican police have captured the country's most wanted drug lord, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez.

Mr Gomez, leader of the Knights Templar drug cartel, was arrested in Morelia in Michoacan state without a shot fired.

He was taken to Mexico City, where he was paraded before television cameras, before being flown by helicopter to a maximum security prison.

President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter that the rule of law had been strengthened because of the arrest.

Police said they located him by following one of his messengers, part of a close network providing him with food and clothing.

He was captured when he stepped outside his house, wearing a hat and scarf to try to hide his identity.

Eight of his associates and several weapons, including a grenade launcher, were captured too. His brother, Flavio Gomez, who was in charge of the family's finances, was also arrested.

Police spent months gathering intelligence for the operation and reportedly seized nearby properties in the weeks leading up Mr Gomez's capture.

Analysis: Katy Watson, BBC News, Mexico City

For a man who reportedly said he would rather die than be captured, this must be a humiliating end. Paraded in front of millions of Mexicans on live television, he kept his head down as he was marched from a prison van to a police helicopter and flown to a high security prison.

While La Tuta's capture may be a coup for the administration of Enrique Pena Nieto, the fallout in the state of Michoacan is not clear. It is a poor and violent part of the country, the battleground between drugs cartels and vigilantes trying to oust them.

As one security expert told me, this was a man who was not just in charge of a drugs empire - he wanted political power too and in politics you gain as many enemies as you do friends.

Perhaps that is what led to the net closing in in the end?

Meth trade

Previously a school teacher, Mr Gomez became one of Mexico's most powerful drug lords and took control of Michoacan.

Known by his nicknames "La Tuta" and "El Profe", referring to his former job, Mr Gomez ruled over much of Michoacan state as head of the Knights Templar cartel.

Mr Gomez evaded capture for years while other senior members of the gang and rival drug lords were captured or killed.

By the time of his arrest, he had a $2 million (£1.3 million) bounty on his head.

"With this arrest, the rule of law is strengthened in the country and [we] continue moving toward Mexico in Peace," President Pena Nieto tweeted.

The arrest come as the president strives to assuage public anger over the abduction and apparent murder in September of 43 trainee teachers by police accused of being corrupt in concert with criminal gangs.

Knights Templar was primarily a drug cartel and it controlled a large part of the lucrative methamphetamine trade in western Mexico.

But it was also known for mixing in business and politics in the region and even took effective control over the state's international port, Lazaro Cardenas, making millions of dollars from illegal mining of iron ore.

A federal government offensive in 2013 saw the Pena Nieto administration wrest back control of Michoacan state from the Knights Templar and rival gangs.

As leader of the biggest cartel in the region, Mr Gomez became the prime target of Mr Pena Nieto's crackdown.

The administration has been criticised for failing to tackle the drug gangs, with vigilante groups forming to take on the dealers illegally.

Mr Gomez's arrest comes just over a year after the capture of the country's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Shortly after Guzman's capture, Mexican security forces killed two of Mr Gomez's senior deputies, Enrique "Kike" Plancarte and Nazario Moreno, known as "The Craziest One".

Unlike many rival gang leaders who carefully avoided the limelight, Mr Gomez regularly gave media interviews and railed against the government in Youtube videos.

Mr Gomez began life in the drug trade as an small-time marijuana dealer, before joining a Michoacan gang called La Familia and rising to a senior level. A split in La Familia led him to form Knights Templar.

A father of at least seven, Mr Gomez was also wanted by US authorities in connection with the 2009 murder of 12 Mexican federal police officers.

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Putin critic Boris Nemtsov shot dead

28 February 2015 Last updated at 09:56

A leading Russian opposition politician, former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, has been shot dead in Moscow, Russian officials say.

An unidentified attacker in a car shot Mr Nemtsov four times in the back as he crossed a bridge in view of the Kremlin, police say.

He died hours after appealing for support for a march on Sunday in Moscow against the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the murder, the Kremlin says.

President Putin has assumed "personal control" of the investigation into the killing, said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Investigators said the murder could have been "a provocation aimed at destabilising the country".

The investigative committee said in a statement that several motives for the killing were being considered including "Islamic extremism".

US President Barack Obama condemned the "brutal murder" and called on the Russian government to conduct a "prompt, impartial and transparent investigation".

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described Mr Nemtsov as a "bridge between Ukraine and Russia".

"The murderers' shot has destroyed it. I think it is not by accident," he said in a statement published on his administration's Facebook page.

In a recent interview, Mr Nemtsov had said he feared Mr Putin would have him killed because of his opposition to the war in Ukraine.

Mr Nemtsov, 55, served as first deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s.

He had earned a reputation as an economic reformer while governor of one of Russia's biggest cities, Nizhny Novgorod.

Falling out of favour with Yeltsin's successor, Mr Putin, he became an outspoken opposition politician.

Analysis: Sarah Rainsford, BBC Moscow correspondent

A lawyer for Mr Nemtsov reported that he had received death threats over social media in recent months; but for now there's only speculation as to why he was targeted. He openly opposed Moscow's role in the crisis in Ukraine - and the annexation by Russia of Crimea.

He had been planning a rare public protest on Sunday against both things - and a growing economic crisis in this country.

Since his death, social media has been flooded with tributes to a man remembered by friends as decent, honest and a democrat. He had been pushed to the political margins in Vladimir Putin's Russia, but he was still prominent enough for someone to want to kill him.

Profile: Boris Nemtsov

Russian and world reaction

Mr Nemtsov was shot at around 23:40 (20:40 GMT) on Friday while crossing Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge accompanied by a woman, Russia's interior ministry said.

He was shot with a pistol from a white car which fled the scene, a police source told Russia's Interfax news agency.

According to Russian-language news website Meduza, "several people" got out of a car and shot him.

One of the politician's colleagues in his RPR-Parnassus party, Ilya Yashin, confirmed Mr Nemtsov's death.

"Unfortunately I can see the corpse of Boris Nemtsov in front of me now," he was quoted as saying by Russia's lenta.ru news website.

Flowers were left at the site of the shooting through the night.

Violent deaths of Putin opponents

April 2003 - Liberal politician Sergey Yushenkov assassinated near his Moscow home

July 2003 - Investigative journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin died after 16-day mysterious illness

July 2004 - Forbes magazine Russian editor Paul Klebnikov shot from moving car on Moscow street, died later in hospital

October 2006 - Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya shot dead outside her Moscow apartment

November 2006 - Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died nearly three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium in London hotel

March 2013 - Boris Berezovsky, former Kremlin power broker turned Putin critic, found dead in his UK home

'Putin's aggression'

In his last tweet, Mr Nemtsov sent out an appeal for Russia's divided opposition to unite at an anti-war march he was planning for Sunday.

"If you support stopping Russia's war with Ukraine, if you support stopping Putin's aggression, come to the Spring March in Maryino on 1 March," he wrote.

Speaking earlier this month to Russia's Sobesednik news website, he had spoken of his fears for his own life.

"I'm afraid Putin will kill me," he said in the article (in Russian) on 10 February.

"I believe that he was the one who unleashed the war in the Ukraine," he added. "I couldn't dislike him more."

Mr Putin has been widely accused of fomenting the bloody rebellion in east Ukraine - an accusation he denies. Fighting there followed Russia's annexation of Crimea in March last year.

Almost 5,800 people have died and at least 1.25 million have fled their homes, according to the UN.

The Ukrainian government, Western leaders and Nato say there is clear evidence that Russia is helping the rebels with heavy weapons and soldiers.

Independent experts echo that accusation while Moscow denies it, insisting that any Russians serving with the rebels are "volunteers".

Are you in Russia? What is your reaction to the death of Boris Nemtsov? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Have your say

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Widow wants 'Jihadi John' alive

27 February 2015 Last updated at 10:49

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The masked militant first appeared in numerous gruesome videos put out by Islamic State, as Lucy Manning reports

The widow of a man killed by a masked Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John" says she wants him caught alive.

Dragana Haines said the "last thing" she wanted for the man who had killed her husband, British aid worker David Haines, was an "honourable death".

The militant, pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Briton from west London.

Mr Haines' daughter said she wanted to see "a bullet between his eyes".

Emwazi, who is in his mid-20s and was previously known to British security services, first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed the US journalist James Foley.

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Dragana Haines, wife of slain hostage David: "I hope he will be caught alive... He needs to be put to justice"

He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Mr Haines, US journalist Steven Sotloff, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter.

Mrs Haines told the BBC she wanted him to be caught alive and not have an "honourable death" by being killed in action.

She added: "I think he needs to be put to justice, but not in that way."

However Mr Haines' daughter, Bethany, told ITV News: "I think all the families will feel closure and relief once there's a bullet between his eyes."

There have been questions about how Emwazi was able to travel to Syria and how he may have been radicalised.

Emwazi graduated from the University of Westminster in 2009 and it has been suggested he may have come into contact with extremists while he was a student there.

Student Rights, a group tackling extremism on university campuses, told BBC News it had found a number of events at the university that featured extremist Islamist preachers, and large amounts of extremist material had been shared with students.

Rupert Sutton, the group's director, said: "Given that he travelled so soon after graduating, it's entirely possible he picked up the views that led him to travel whilst he was studying."

A spokesman from the University of Westminster said it "condemned the promotion of radicalisation, terrorism and violence or threats against any member of our community".

It said the Education Act placed two competing responsibilities on universities to promote free speech and a duty to protect students from harm, but it was working with the government's Prevent strategy to tackle extremism.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

As a mum I forgive him"

End Quote Diane Foley Mother of IS murder victim James Foley

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner told Radio 4's Today programme there were questions for the security services about how "someone on a terror watch list, somebody of real concern, was able to slip out of this country and turn up in Syria like that unhindered".

While Chris Phillips, former head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, said the case demonstrated the need for security services to have increased powers, including access to phone records, proposed in the so-called "snoopers' charter".

He said: "It's clear also that TPIMs (Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures) and control orders just don't work. We need to have a way of dealing with people in this kind of situation.

"The numbers are growing and the police resources are not."

Dr Afzal Ashraf, a counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency expert who advised the government on the Prevent strategy between 2009 and 2011, said people were more likely to be radicalised by groups they believed could be successful.

"One of the reasons we don't have Nazis and right-wing extremists in great numbers doing what they do is because Nazism and right-wing extremism has been discredited.

"Not many people believe they are going to change the world into that format.

"The problem is that al-Qaeda, and now IS, has demonstrated a degree of success as far as these people are concerned and they actually believe there is a possibility of success."

Analysis: Frank Gardner, BBC News

US and British counter-terrorism officials discovered the identity of "Jihadi John" as far back as last September. The FBI, Britain's MI5 and other intelligence agencies used a combination of voice-recognition software, interviews with former hostages and on-the-ground research in London to build up a profile of the man now revealed to be Mohammed Emwazi.

They have always declined to reveal the name for "operational reasons". Now that it's out in the public domain, it's emerged that Emwazi was well known to MI5 and that it even tried to recruit him as an informer, years before he went off to Syria to eventually join Islamic State.

The practice by intelligence agencies of approaching jihadist sympathisers to work for them is likely to continue. It's believed both Britain and the US have informers inside the Islamic State "capital" of Raqqa. Yet this seems to have been little help in stopping the actions of Mohammed Emwazi, or bringing him to justice.

Profile: Mohammed Emwazi

Jihadist's 'typical trajectory'

In each of the videos Emwazi appears in, the militant is dressed in a black robe with a black balaclava covering all but his eyes and top of his nose.

Speaking with a British accent, he taunted Western powers before holding his knife to the hostages' necks, appearing to start cutting before the film stopped. The victims' decapitated bodies were then shown.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

These people are inhumane dogs"

End Quote Kasim Jameel Friend of IS murder victim Alan Henning

Earlier this month, a video in which the Japanese journalist Kenji Goto appeared to be beheaded featured the militant.

Hostages released by IS said he was one of three British jihadists guarding Westerners abducted by the group in Syria. They were known collectively as "the Beatles".

A spokesman for the family of Steven Sotloff said: "We want to sit in a courtroom, watch him sentenced and see him sent to a super-max prison."

Mr Foley's mother Diane told the Times that she forgave her son's killer.

"It saddens me, [Emwazi's] continued hatred," she said. "He felt wronged, now we hate him - now that just prolongs the hatred. We need to end it.

"As a mum I forgive him. You know, the whole thing is tragic - an ongoing tragedy."

Kasim Jameel, a friend of Mr Henning, told The Times he wanted Emwazi dead.

Mr Jameel, who led an aid convoy that was joined by Mr Henning, said: "He needs to be annihilated. I wouldn't believe in an eye for an eye but he murdered my best friend and he should be eradicated."

He added: "These people are inhumane dogs, they are worse than any other terrorist group and I don't care how he's killed, whether it's by the security services or a US drone, it might finally bring some closure."

Mohammed Emwazi's movements before heading to Syria

• 1. Aug 2009, refused entry to Tanzania: travels to Tanzania with two friends, but is refused entry at Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian police have denied Emwazi's name is on their database of suspected foreign criminals detained and deported in 2009, as he had claimed. Emwazi and his friends are put on flight to Amsterdam, where they are questioned. They return to Dover and are questioned again.
• 2. Sept 2009, travels to Kuwait for work: leaves the UK for Kuwait for work.
• 3. May/June 2010, returns to UK for holiday: he returns to the UK for an eight-day visit.
• 4. July 2010, refused re-entry to Kuwait: Emwazi returns to the UK once more for a couple of days. He is stopped at Heathrow on his return to Kuwait and told he cannot travel as his visa has expired.
• 5. 2013, travels to Syria: Emwazi changes his name to Mohammed al-Ayan and attempts to travel to Kuwait but is stopped and questioned. Three days later, he heads abroad. Police later inform his family he has travelled to Syria.

Source: Cage

'Jihadi John' movement mapped

Emwazi 'claimed harassment'

In a news conference, Asim Qureshi, the research director of the London-based lobby group Cage, which had been in contact with Emwazi over a number of years, detailed the difficulties Emwazi had faced with security services in the UK and overseas.

Mr Qureshi said Emwazi, who is understood to be about 27, had been "extremely kind, gentle and soft-spoken, the most humble young person I knew".

He added that Emwazi travelled to Tanzania in May 2009 following his graduation in computer programming at the University of Westminster.

Mr Qureshi said he and two friends had planned to go on a safari but once they landed in Dar es Salaam they were detained by police and held overnight.

Tanzanian police appeared to contradict this account and said Mohammed Emwazi's name was not in their database of suspected foreign criminals detained and deported in 2009, though they said he might have been using another identity or forged travel documents.

Emwazi told Cage he was subsequently "harassed" by security services.

In later emails Emwazi was "witnessing perceived injustices everywhere", Mr Qureshi said.

But Rafaello Pantucci, author of We Love Life As You Love Death, said the suggestion the security services may have driven Emwazi to carry out his killings was "disproportionate".

He said: "Security services asking questions and making your life a little bit difficult and ending up murdering people in this very cold-blooded way seems a very disproportionate causal link."

Emwazi then ended up flying to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, where he claimed to be met by British intelligence agents from MI5 who accused him of trying to travel to Somalia, where the jihadist group al-Shabab operates. He denied the accusation and said the agents had tried to recruit him before allowing him to return to the UK.

In early 2013, at his father's suggestion, Emwazi changed his name by deed poll to Mohammed al-Ayan, Cage said.

Emwazi was believed to have travelled to Syria around 2013 and later joined IS, which has declared the creation of a "caliphate" in the large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq it controls.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron would not confirm or deny the latest reports, adding that the police and security services were working hard to find those responsible for the murder of the British hostages.

British police have not commented on his identity, citing ongoing inquiries.

Jihadi John sightings

• August 2014: Video in which US journalist James Foley is apparently beheaded
• 2 September 2014: Video in which US journalist Steve Sotloff is apparently beheaded
• 13 September 2014: Video in which British aid worker David Haines is apparently beheaded
• October 2014: Video in which British aid worker Alan Henning is apparently beheaded
• November 2014: Video in which Jihadi John is shown killing a Syrian soldier in a mass beheading, which also shows body of US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter Kassig
• 20 January 2015: Video in which Jihadi John is seen standing alongside two Japanese hostages and demanding a ransom in exchange for their release
• 31 January 2015: Video released appearing to show Jihadi John beheading Japanese hostage Kenji Goto

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German MPs back Greek loan extension

27 February 2015 Last updated at 10:51

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Police and protesters clashed in Athens on Thursday night

The German parliament has voted to extend financial aid to Greece by another four months.

The extension - approved by creditors last week in exchange for a series of Greek government reforms - needs to be ratified by eurozone members.

Some MPs had expressed doubts about the deal and there is substantial public scepticism but the vote passed easily.

It comes after police and protesters clashed during anti-government demonstrations in Athens on Thursday.

They were the first such disturbances since Greece's leftist Syriza was sworn in as the main government party exactly a month ago.

Dozens of activists hurled petrol bombs and stones at police and set cars alight after a march involving hundreds of protesters.

Syriza swept to power in January by promising to renegotiate the country's debt and end austerity.

'Keep Europe together'

Eurozone finance ministers on Tuesday approved a set of reform proposals submitted by Greece.

As the dominant economic power in the EU, Germany's approval was regarded as crucial - and on Friday the overwhelming majority of MPs granted it. A total of 542 voted for the proposals, with 32 voting against and 13 abstentions.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble spoke in favour of the deal, telling parliament: "We Germans should do everything possible to keep Europe together as much as we can."

"We're not talking about new billions for Greece... rather it's about providing or granting extra time to successfully end this programme," he insisted.

There has been a chorus of scepticism about the deal inside Germany - with Thursday's edition of the largest tabloid, Bild, emblazoned with the word "No!", adding "No more billions for the greedy Greeks!''

Hawkish elements within Mrs Merkel's CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU (Christian Social Union), have portrayed the extension deal as leniency for Greece.

Mr Schaeuble himself has expressed doubt about the Greek government's commitment to reform.

Debt mountain

But German legislators felt they had no choice but to pass the vote, as a eurozone breakup could prove even more expensive than the bailouts and potentially undermine the credibility of the euro, reports the BBC's Berlin correspondent Damien McGuinness.

In Greece, the proposed bailout extension has also triggered dissent within the governing party.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has defended it, but some on the hard left have accused Syriza of going back on pre-election pledges.

Meanwhile, even if the bailout extension goes through Greece still faces the formidable task of trying to service its debt obligations.

It will need to flesh out its reform programme in detail by April and prove that reforms are bedding in before receiving a final disbursement of 7.2bn euros.

But in the meantime Greece has to repay several billion euros in maturing debts, including about 2bn euros to the IMF in March, and 6.7bn in European Central Bank bonds maturing in July and August.

Greek proposals

• Combat tax evasion
• Tackle corruption
• Commit not to roll back already introduced privatisations, but review privatisations not yet implemented
• Introduce collective bargaining, stopping short of raising the minimum wage immediately
• Tackle Greece's "humanitarian crisis" with housing guarantees and free medical care for the uninsured unemployed, with no overall public spending increase
• Reform public sector wages to avoid further wage cuts, without increasing overall wage bill
• Achieve pensions savings by consolidating funds and eliminating incentives for early retirement - not cutting payments
• Reduce the number of ministries from 16 to 10, cutting special advisers and fringe benefits for officials

Greek pledges: Key points

Pressure still on despite deal

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'Ukraine's eastern threat to stay'

27 February 2015 Last updated at 10:55

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said a "military threat from the east" will remain even if a ceasefire holds between government troops and pro-Russian rebels in the east.

Mr Poroshenko's warning is widely seen as an indirect reference to Russia.

Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of helping the rebels with weapons and soldiers - a claim denied by Moscow.

The two sides say they are now withdrawing their heavy weapons from the front line under the truce deal.

The process is yet to be officially confirmed by international monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The ceasefire - agreed in Minsk, Belarus - came into effect on 15 February but the rebels seized the key town of Debaltseve just days later.

Fighting began in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions - known as Donbas - last April, a month after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula.

Almost 5,800 people have died since then, the UN has estimated, although it believes the real figure could be considerably higher.

In other developments on Friday:

• Spanish police arrest eight Spaniards suspected of fighting alongside the rebels in eastern Ukraine
• the UN Security Council is to hold an emergency session on the Ukraine crisis
• Russian President Vladimir Putin cuts the salaries of his administration employees by 10% as Moscow seeks to tackle a big fall in revenues caused by lower oil prices and Western sanctions

'Ready any time'

Speaking at Ukraine's National Defence University in Kiev on Friday, Mr Poroshenko said: "Even under the most optimistic scenario in Donbas... the military threat from the east would unfortunately remain."

He said this would require Ukraine to constantly strengthen the country's defensive capabilities.

The president also said the rebels were still violating the Minsk agreement, warning that the Ukrainian military was "ready any time" to bring back heavy weapons to the front line if the deal failed.

On Thursday, Ukraine said it began the pullout of 100mm calibre artillery from the front line.

The decision to begin moving artillery came shortly after Ukraine's military said its forces had suffered no fatalities in the past 48 hours, although several soldiers had been wounded.

The separatist rebels in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic say they have been pulling out their heavy weapons for the past several days.

They say hundreds of pieces of artillery and other weapons had already been withdrawn.

The OSCE special monitoring mission said on Wednesday it had observed movement of trucks and howitzers in several rebel-held areas.

However, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva later said he was "profoundly disturbed by the illegal separatists' continuing refusal to grant unlimited, safe access to OSCE monitors on the ground in Ukraine and their violations of the Minsk Package of Measures".

Under terms agreed in Minsk, both Ukraine's government forces and the rebels must pull out their heavy weapons, creating a buffer zone of at least 50km (30 miles).

The Ukrainian government, Western leaders and Nato say there is clear evidence that Russia is helping the rebels with heavy weapons and soldiers.

Independent experts echo that accusation while Moscow denies it, insisting that any Russians serving with the rebels are "volunteers".

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US-Bangladesh writer hacked to death

27 February 2015 Last updated at 11:01

A knife-wielding mob has hacked to death a US-Bangladeshi blogger whose writing on religion had brought threats from Islamist hardliners.

Avijit Roy, an atheist who advocated secularism, was attacked in Dhaka as he walked back from a book fair with his wife, who was hurt in attack.

No-one has been arrested but police say they are investigating a local Islamist group that praised the killing.

Hundreds of students gathered in Dhaka to mourn the blogger's death.

Mr Roy's family say he had received threats after publishing articles promoting secular views, science and social issues on his Bengali-language blog, Mukto-mona, or Free Mind.

The website was inaccessible on Friday.

He defended atheism in a recent Facebook post, calling it "a rational concept to oppose any unscientific and irrational belief".

The killing of another secular blogger in early 2013, which was blamed on religious hardliners, sparked protests from free-speech supports and counter-protests from Islamists.

The police said the attack on Mr Roy was similar to the 2013 murder.

A group of men ambushed the couple, who live in the US and were visiting Dhaka only to attend the book festival, as they walked toward a roadside tea stall.

At least two of the attackers hit them with meat cleavers, police chief Sirajul Islam told the AP news agency.

The attackers dropped their weapons and ran away, disappearing into the crowds.

The police told the BBC they were investigating a local hard-line religious group that had praised the killing in an online message.

Death threats against atheist writers and bloggers are nothing new in Bangladesh.

Prominent writer Taslima Nasreen had to leave Bangladesh after she received death threats from hard-line Islamists in the mid-1990s.

She wrote on her blog: "Avijit Roy has been killed the way other free thinker writers were killed in Bangladesh. No freethinker is safe in Bangladesh.

"Islamic terrorists can do whatever they like. They can kill people with no qualms whatsoever."

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Washington DC legalises marijuana

26 February 2015 Last updated at 07:11

Washington DC has become the latest place in the United States to legalise the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

As of midnight on Thursday (05:00 GMT), people who use the drug in private no longer face prosecution.

The change has created tension between the city's mayor and Congress.

Washington DC joins Alaska, Colorado, and Washington state as the only places in the US that allow the use of the drug for recreational purposes.

Residents and visitors to the city over the age of 21 can possess as much as 2oz (56g) of cannabis, and may grow a few plants at home.

Buying and selling the drug remains illegal, as does smoking it in public.

The plan was overwhelmingly agreed in a referendum last November.

But the vote revived tensions between local officials and Congress.

Washington DC - a federal district, not a state - is required to seek congressional approval for much of its legislation.

In a letter sent on Tuesday, two members of Congress warned Mayor Muriel Bowser that she would be breaking US law by proceeding.

They said that a national budget bill passed in December prevents the legalisation of marijuana in Washington.

But Ms Bowser and other officials believe that the legalisation is still valid since it was approved by voters before Congress passed the budget bill.

In the letter, the congressmen warned her that by enacting the new rules she would "be doing so in knowing and wilful violation of the law".

Speaking to the Washington Post newspaper, Representative Jason Chaffetz, one of the letter's signatories, warned that she could face "very severe consequences", adding: "You can go to prison for this."

Ms Bowser said: "We do disagree on a matter of law. There are reasonable ways to resolve that without us threatening him or he us."

While any criminal prosecution would have to come from the US Department of Justice, Congress could withhold Washington DC's funding for other initiatives to pressure Ms Bowser.

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Netanyahu 'not correct' on Iran

26 February 2015 Last updated at 07:52

US Secretary of State John Kerry has questioned the judgement of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu over his stance on Iran's nuclear programme.

Mr Netanyahu has criticised the US and others for "giving up" on trying to stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.

The Israeli PM "may not be correct", Mr Kerry said after attending the latest Iran nuclear talks in Geneva.

Mr Netanyahu will address Congress next week, after an invitation by Republican leaders criticised by the White House.

Mr Kerry was reacting to a speech in which Mr Netanyahu had said the US and others were "accepting that Iran will gradually, within a few years, develop capabilities to produce material for many nuclear weapons".

"I respect the White House and the president of the United States but on such a fateful matter, that can determine whether or not we survive, I must do everything to prevent such a great danger for Israel," he said in a speech in Israel.

Having just concluded the latest round of nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva, Mr Kerry told senators President Obama had made it clear the policy was not to let Iran get nuclear weapons and Mr Netanyahu's might therefore not be correct.

The invitation for Mr Netanyahu to speak before Congress has angered Democrats.

A spokesman for the White House warned against reducing US-Israeli relations to a party-political issue.

Earlier, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice had gone further and said Mr Netanyahu's visit was "destructive to the fabric of the relationship".

Analysis - Barbara Plett Usher, BBC News, Washington

Administration officials have been hitting back at Mr Netanyahu's aggressive opposition to the nuclear deal they're negotiating with Iran - they're unhappy his speech to Congress will give him a platform to make his case as talks reach a critical juncture.

Susan Rice's comments highlight that strain and are the most direct reference by a senior official to the damage caused by the controversy over the visit. It was arranged by Republican congressional leaders without consulting the Democrats or the White House, just two weeks before Mr Netanyahu faces an election.

That has angered Democrats, some of whom feel they'll be forced to choose between President Obama and their desire not to upset Israel. More than a dozen have said they plan to skip the speech, opening an unprecedented breach in the usual show of bipartisan support for Israel.

Mr Netanyahu was invited by House Speaker John Boehner in what is seen as a rebuke to US President Barack Obama's Iran policy.

Mr Netanyahu is expected to discuss Iran, as well as Islamist militant groups, in his address.

The current tensions took root over a decade ago when Iran's nuclear programme first came to light.

In 2005, Iran was referred to the UN Security Council, leading to a series of sanctions and UN resolutions requiring Tehran to stop enriching uranium.

The US and other powers - the so-called P5+1 - are negotiating with Iran on its nuclear programme. They want to agree a deal by March this year, but Mr Netanyahu is opposed to any agreement which might allow Tehran to retain the future capacity to build a nuclear weapon.

Tough election

The Israeli leader has turned down an invitation to meet Senate Democrats privately, saying this "could compound the misperception of partisanship" surrounding his trip.

Several Democratic members of Congress including Vice-President Joe Biden have said they will not attend the speech.

Republican leaders did not consult the Obama administration before inviting Mr Netanyahu, which the White House has called a breach of protocol.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday: "The president has said the relationship between the US and Israel can't just be reduced to a relationship between the Republican party and the Likud party."

Mr Obama does not plan to meet Mr Netanyahu next week. The White House cited the "long-standing practice" of not meeting government leaders close to elections, which Israel will hold in mid-March.

Mr Netanyahu is fighting a tough election against the Labour Party's Yitzhak Herzog, who has focused on the prime minister's cooler relations with Mr Obama.

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Argentina scraps intelligence body

26 February 2015 Last updated at 10:08

Argentina's Congress has approved a bill to scrap the country's intelligence agency.

The Intelligence Secretariat will be replaced with a new federal agency that will be accountable to Congress.

The proposal was drafted last month by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, following the death of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman.

She accused a rogue agent of feeding misleading information to Mr Nisman, who was investigating the government.

The lower house of Congress voted 131 to 71 in favour of the bill. It had already been passed by the Senate.

Marathon session

During a six-hour debate, opposition lawmakers repeatedly expressed their discontent with the fact that, under the new law, oversight of all wiretaps will be moved from the intelligence services to the general attorney's office.

They said they felt uneasy about the close ties between the government and the current general attorney.

They also said they were worried about the role army chief Cesar Milani would play in intelligence gathering under the new law.

The new agency is expected to be set up within 90 days of the bill being signed into law by Ms Fernandez.

Argentina's Intelligence Secretariat (SI, also known by its previous name Side)

• Founded in 1946 by General Juan Peron as a civilian intelligence agency
• Mission was to provide both internal and foreign intelligence
• Evolved into a secret police force during Argentina's Dirty War (1974-1983)
• Used by military junta to track down opponents and spy on "subversives", including trade union and other left-wing activists
• Survived the transition to democracy in 1983
• Critics allege SI has since been used to monitor the activities of critical journalists, politicians, judges and prosecutors
• No official staffing figures available - but analysts believe it has grown in influence and size in the past decade
• Led since December 2014 by Oscar Parrilli following the resignation of Hector Icazuriaga after 11 years

Why SI is feared and loathed

Ms Fernandez had argued a reform of Argentina's intelligence services was overdue.

She said that the agency had kept much of the same structure it had during the military government, which ended in 1983, and needed to become more accountable.

"We need to make the intelligence services more transparent because they have not served the interests of the country," the president said in a televised speech in January.

Kicking off the debate in the lower chamber on Wednesday evening, governing party lawmaker Diana Conti described the vote as "a fight for the democratisation of the country's intelligence services".

She said it was time to put an end "to the perverse links between the intelligence services, the judiciary and some political sectors".

One of the main criticisms of the SI had been a lack of control of its funding.

The new law creates "control mechanisms" to oversee the new agency's finances, although critics said details of how these mechanisms would work were lacking.

Opposition congressman Manuel Garrido also warned that there were no safeguards to prevent the new agency from committing serious irregularities.

"What worries us is that there has not been, nor will there be proper control," he told Reuters news agency.

Mr Garrido also said the law was a smokescreen to divert attention from the death under mysterious circumstances of federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman.

Mr Nisman, who was 51, was found dead in his flat on 18 January with a gunshot wound to his head hours before he was due to testify to a congressional committee.

He had been investigating the bombing of the Amia Jewish centre in the capital, Buenos Aires, in 1994 which left 85 people dead.

Mr Nisman had accused President Fernandez and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman of involvement in a plot to cover up Iran's alleged role in the bombing.

Ms Fernandez rejected the allegations and said a former secret agent had misled the prosecutor in order to discredit her government.

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'Jihadi John' named as London man

26 February 2015 Last updated at 11:09

The masked Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John", who has been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named.

The BBC understands he is Mohammed Emwazi, a British man believed to be from West London, who was known to British security services.

They chose not to disclose his name earlier for operational reasons.

Emwazi first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed the American journalist James Foley.

He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter.

Last month, the militant appeared in a video with the Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, shortly before they were killed.

Emwazi is believed to be an associate of a former UK control order suspect, who travelled to Somalia in 2006 and is allegedly linked to a facilitation and funding network for Somali militant group al-Shabab.

Last year, Islamic State announced the creation of a "caliphate" in the large large swathes of Syria and Iraq it controls.

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IS 'abducts 90 Syrian Christians'

24 February 2015 Last updated at 10:44

Islamic State (IS) has abducted dozens of Assyrian Christians from villages in north-eastern Syria, activists say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 90 men, women and children were seized in a series of dawn raids near the town of Tal Tamr.

Some Assyrians managed to escape and made their way east to the largely Kurdish-controlled city of Hassakeh.

It comes as Syrian Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes continue to advance into IS-held territory.

On Monday, a Kurdish official said IS militants had been forced back to within 5km (3 miles) of the town of Tal Hamis by the Popular Protection Units (YPG).

The Syrian Observatory confirmed the advance by the YPG and said at least 12 IS fighters had been killed on Monday.

Hassakeh province is strategically important in the fight against IS because it borders both Turkey and areas controlled by the group in Iraq.

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces are also attacking IS positions on the Iraqi side of the frontline, to the east.

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Paris targeted in night drone mystery

24 February 2015 Last updated at 08:54

Drones have been seen flying over several sensitive landmarks in Paris in a night-time mystery that French police say is being taken seriously.

At least five of the unmanned aerial machines were spotted between midnight on Monday and 0600 on Tuesday, and none of the operators has been caught.

The first appeared over the US embassy and there were later sightings near the Eiffel Tower and Place de la Concorde.

French police believe the drone flights could be linked.

Small drones are easy to buy but their appearance in recent months over sensitive locations has worried French authorities.

Last month a drone was seen over the Elysee Palace, home of President Francois Hollande, and in October a series of nuclear plants was targeted across the country.

An inquiry has begun into the drone flight over the US embassy, a short distance from Place de la Concorde. The Invalides military museum and Bastille were also buzzed, reports said.

"We did all we could to try to catch the operators but they weren't found," a police source told AFP news agency.

Drones are capable of providing high-quality aerial film and what is not clear is whether they were being used maliciously or simply by enthusiasts.

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Greece submits bailout reform plans

24 February 2015 Last updated at 10:30

Greece has submitted a list of reform proposals to its bailout creditors, the European Commission says.

The measures include combating tax evasion and tackling the smuggling of fuel and tobacco.

Newly elected Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is trying to balance satisfying the demands of creditors with meeting his pre-election pledges.

Greece needs approval from international creditors to secure a four-month loan extension.

The so-called troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will assess the list before it is discussed by the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers later.

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a news conference the list had been received late on Monday night and that contrary to news reports there had been no delay.

He said he was not yet able to say whether he had a positive assessment of the list, but added the Greek government was "very serious" about meeting its reform commitments and had demonstrated an "unequivocal commitment to honour its financial obligations".

He said the process would not be easy and the list of reforms was just a "first step" towards rebuilding trust between Greece and European creditors.

Sticking points

Drafts of the list will have been seen by European officials in Brussels as they were being drawn up over the weekend, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens.

But aspects of the plan that require new social spending may well be sticking points with creditors, he adds.

Ending primary home repossessions and providing free medical care and electricity for those who cannot pay may become bones of contention - while the eurozone may insist pension cuts and VAT rises should continue, our correspondent adds.

There is little time left to agree an extension to Athens' 240bn-euro (£175bn; $270bn) bailout programme, which is due to expire on Saturday.

Without an extension, Greece could face insovlency and the danger of needing to quit the single currency.

If creditors and finance ministers are happy with the list, it will then be put forward to national governments for agreement before Saturday.

The list will then have to be fleshed out with detailed measures by April.

'Return to dignity'

"Provided Greece avows its obligations and provided there is an agreement in the eurogroup [of finance ministers], the German government would be in favour of the proposed extension," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as saying.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told CNN that the list of reforms was "very comprehensive".

"This is a very exciting moment because we are getting to be the co-authors of our fate," Mr Varoufakis said.

"I can assure you that people on the street are elated by this return to dignity of a people, the Greek people, who for five years have been treated as a debt colony."

But the compromises agreed to by Syriza leaders in pursuit of a European deal have already estranged key figures among the party's more radical supporters - including veteran Greek activist and MEP Manolis Glezos, who apologised to Greek people for "taking part in this illusion".

Greek economy in numbers

• Unemployment is at 25%, with youth unemployment almost 50% (corresponding eurozone averages: 11.4% and 23%)
• Economy has shrunk by 25% since the start of the eurozone crisis
• Country's debt is 175% of GDP
• Borrowed €240bn (£188bn) from the EU, the ECB and the IMF

Greek crisis deepens amid EU tension

Greece bailout talks explained in 60 seconds

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UN climate head Pachauri resigns

24 February 2015 Last updated at 11:07

Head of United Nations climate change panel, Rajendra Pachauri, steps down amid sexual harassment allegations

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Birdman, Redmayne, Moore lead Oscars

23 February 2015 Last updated at 06:20

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Highlights of the 2015 Academy Awards ceremony

British actor Eddie Redmayne has won the best actor Oscar for The Theory of Everything, while Julianne Moore picked up best actress for Still Alice.

Redmayne thanked his "staggering partner in crime", co-star Felicity Jones, and his "ferocious but incredibly kind director James Marsh".

Dark comedy Birdman won best film and best director for Mexican film-maker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

It also won best cinematography and best original screenplay.

The film sees Michael Keaton play a former movie superhero actor, who hopes to revive his washed-up career by putting on a Broadway play.

See all the updates from the night on our Oscars live page

Moore used her speech to raise awareness for Alzheimer's disease - in Still Alice, she plays a 50-year-old who has early on-set Alzheimer's.

"I'm so happy, I'm thrilled that we were able to shine a light on Alzheimer's disease," she said.

"So many people who have this disease feel marginalised. People who have Alzheimer's disease deserve to be seen so we can find a cure."

Redmayne was honoured for his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking, who has motor neurone disease (ALS).

Accepting his award, he thanked the Hawking family, including Jane Hawking on whose book the film is based, and said his award belonged "to all of the people around the world battling ALS".

Continue reading the main story Full Oscars coverage Continue reading the main story

• 1 win out of eight nominations for The Imitation Game

• 1 win out of six nominations for Boyhood

• 1 win out of six nominations for American Sniper

AFP

Richard Linklater's Boyhood won just one award from six nominations - best supporting actress - which went to Patricia Arquette.

Arquette thanked "her Boyhood family" and "every woman who gave birth".

"To every woman... we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality," she added, to huge applause from the audience.

JK Simmons won best supporting actor for Whiplash, in which he played a strict drumming teacher at a music conservatory.

Whiplash also won the award for best editing and best sound mixing.

The Grand Budapest Hotel picked up best costume design (Milena Canonero), as well as best hair and make-up (British duo Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier). It also won best score and production design.

Hannon thanked absent actor Bill Murray - who has a cameo in the film - for introducing her to director Wes Anderson on the set of his film Rushmore 17 years earlier.

Another British duo, Matt Kirkby and James Lucas, picked up the award for best live short action film, The Phone Call, starring Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent.

Alan Turing drama The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, won best adapted screenplay.

Best foreign language film went to Polish black and white family drama Ida.

John Legend and Common's track Glory, from civil rights drama Selma, won best song.

Legend used his time on stage to deliver a political message, saying: "We live in the most incarcerated country in the world... people are marching with our song... we are with you, march on."

Emmanuel Lubezko's win for best cinematography for Birdman was his second Oscar in as many years - in 2014, he won the same award for his work on Gravity.

Citizenfour, which chronicles one of the biggest intelligence leaks in American history, won best documentary feature.

It shows former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden at the very moment he made his sensational revelations detailing extensive internet and phone surveillance by the US government.

Best documentary short was won by Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, about the counsellors who work with military veterans on a 24-hour phone helpline.

Clint Eastwood's Iraq war drama American Sniper won the award for best sound editing.

The 87th Academy Awards took place at Hollywood's 3,300-seat Dolby Theatre.

Performers at this year's ceremony included Lady Gaga - who sang a medley of Sound of Music songs to celebrate the classic film's 50th year - Jennifer Hudson and Anna Kendrick.

Host Neil Patrick Harris kicked off with a song which paid homage to Hollywood's film industry, accompanied by Kendrick and Jack Black.

Birdman and Wes Anderson's quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel began the night with nine nominations each, while The Imitation Game had eight.

Clint Eastwood's true-life Iraq war tale American Sniper and Boyhood had six apiece.

The best picture prize was widely predicted to either go to Birdman or Boyhood - both of which had been named best film at the many ceremonies leading up to Hollywood's biggest night.

The directors of both films did their best on the red carpet to play down any rivalry with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who eventually won for Birdman, calling the supposed competition "so silly" and Linklater saying he loved Birdman.

"It's a real tribute for two films that aren't traditional stories, crazy stories," said Linklater, who filmed the coming of age movie over 12 years with the same actors.

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Thais jailed for king insult in play

23 February 2015 Last updated at 08:50

A Thai court has sentenced a man and a woman to two years and six months in jail each for "damaging the monarchy".

Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and Pornthip Munkong, 26, had pleaded guilty to breaking strict lese majeste laws which protect the royals from any insults.

The charges related to a play they performed at a university in 2013.

Thailand's lese majeste laws are the world's strictest, but critics say the military government is increasingly using them to silence dissent.

The two were convicted on one count of lese majeste which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. The sentence was reduced because both admitted guilt, the judge said.

At the scene: Jonathan Head, South East Asia correspondent, BBC New

As they awaited their verdict, Pornthip Munkong and Patiwat Saraiyaem smiled and waved at their supporters in Bangkok's main criminal court.

Most of the crowd were fellow student activists; among them I recognised some of the few who have dared protest against military rule. Pornthip's mother hugged her tearfully.

Pornthip told me she had done nothing wrong in staging the play, but had pleaded guilty to try to reduce the sentence.

Some people go to jail for 10 years or more, she said. I don't want to do that at my age.

Her's and Patiwat's crime was to test the limits of the lese majeste law.

"The Wolf Bride" got little attention when it was staged in 2013. At the time other left-leaning groups tried bolder allegorical songs or performances questioning the official glorification of King Bhumibol.

For a while they got away with it. But the regime that took power in last May's coup has stated that no dissent on the monarchy will be tolerated; even past transgressors will be hunted down and punished.

The play, called The Wolf Bride, was set in a fantasy kingdom and featured a fictional king and his advisor.

It marked the 40th anniversary of a student pro-democracy protest that was crushed by a military regime.

However, the full details have not been widely reported because under the laws media coverage which repeats details of the offence is considered the same as the original statement.

It was performed at Bangkok's Thammasat University in October 2013 while Patiwat Saraiyaem was a student and Pornthip Munkong had recently graduated. The pair were not arrested until the following August and have been held in custody ever since.

Thailand's lese majeste laws

• Article 112 of criminal code says anyone who "defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent" will be punished with up to 15 years in prison
• Law remained largely unchanged since 1908
• Use widened in recent years, snaring academics, journalists, policemen, activists and even a 61-year-old grandfather

Lese majeste laws explained

Human rights groups say there has been a rise in royal defamation cases since the military seized power in a coup in May last year.

Our correspondent says 15 people have been charged with lese majeste since then.

More than 90 cases are being investigated and police are aiming to bring charges in about half of them, he adds.

Recent convictions include a taxi driver jailed for two-and-a-half years after his passenger recorded their conversation.

A student was also sentenced to the same amount of prison time for defaming the monarchy in a Facebook post.

The military has more widely suppressed dissent by detaining opponents, banning protests and censoring the media.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, is given an almost god-like status by many Thais. He has been on the throne for six decades, making him the world's longest serving monarch.

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Call for global single-use syringes

23 February 2015 Last updated at 09:04 By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

Smart syringes that break after one use should be used for injections by 2020, the World Health Organization has announced.

Reusing syringes leads to more than two million people being infected with diseases including HIV and hepatitis each year.

The new needles are more expensive, but the WHO says the switch would be cheaper than treating the diseases.

More than 16 billion injections are administered annually.

Normal syringes can be used again and again.

But the smart ones prevent the plunger being pulled back after an injection or retract the needle so it cannot be used again.

Dr Selma Khamassi, the head of the WHO team for injection safety, told the BBC News website: "This will hopefully help eliminate the 1.7 million new hepatitis B cases, the 300,000 hepatitis C cases and the 35,000 HIV cases every year, and all those we don't have figures for, such as Ebola and Marburg."

Nightmare in Cambodia

By David Shukman, Science Editor, BBC News

The people of the farming community of Roka in Cambodia are living through exactly the nightmare scenario that the World Health Organization wants to stamp out with a new policy on syringes.

In wooden huts and farmhouses dotted among paddy fields, families are struggling to cope with the bombshell of a sudden and frightening mass infection of HIV.

To the astonishment and shock of this rural backwater, babies, schoolchildren and even the 82-year-old abbot of the local Buddhist temple, who is celibate, have all tested HIV-positive.

And there is one common factor that links them, directly or indirectly: nearly all of them received injections from an unlicensed doctor suspected of reusing his syringes.

The virus would have been spread from one patient to another, resulting in an escalating tally of infections that now stands at 272, with further rises expected as more tests are carried out.

Four of the victims - three elderly women and a baby - have since died.

More from David's visit to Cambodia

This is also a problem in rich Western countries.

An outbreak of hepatitis C in the US state of Nevada was traced back to a doctor who used the same syringe to give anaesthetic to multiple patients.

'Cost-effective'

Standard syringes cost between two cents (1.3p) and four cents. The smart syringes cost between four and six cents.

The WHO describes it as a "small increase". However, the tiny difference in the price of one needle becomes huge when it is scaled up to 16 billion injections.

Dr Khamassi added: "Injection safety is, I think, the most cost-effective way to prevent all these diseases.

"If we compare the price of most expensive syringes to the cost of treatment for an HIV case, or a hep C case, there is no comparison."

The WHO is also calling for sheathed needles that prevent doctors accidentally pricking their fingers.

This has happened many times during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

But they would treble the cost of the syringes and the WHO says these would have to be introduced "progressively".

The WHO is calling on industry to expand production and find ways of reducing the cost of the safer needles.

Marc Koska, head of Safepoint - which campaigns to stop the reuse of syringes - told the BBC: "It's totally, totally possible.

"We've already done this with immunisation, which represents less than 10% of the injections given in the developing world, and that has been a fantastic success.

"Now we're targeting the 90% of what we call curative injections."

But the measure will not be the end of the typical syringe.

They will be needed for needle exchange programmes for drug users as well as in some treatments in which multiple medicines are mixed in the syringe before being injected.

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Egypt jails activist for five years

23 February 2015 Last updated at 10:56

An Egyptian court has jailed blogger and pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah for five years for breaking a protest law and assaulting a policeman.

He was previously given a 15-year jail term, and was freed on bail last year.

Alaa Abdel Fattah gained fame during the 2011 uprising as a campaigner against military trials for civilians.

Al-Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed also appeared in the same court on Monday at the start of their retrial.

The men were freed on bail earlier this month after more than a year behind bars. They are next due in court on 8 March.

The journalists are accused of spreading false information and of helping the banned Muslim Brotherhood organisation.

Australian Peter Greste, the third journalist in the case, was freed on 1 February and deported to Australia.

Court uproar

Alaa Abdel Fattah was charged under laws that prohibit protests without prior government permission.

He was accused of organising an illegal protest in 2013, and of assaulting a policeman.

Rights groups say the charges are politically motivated and form part of a broader crackdown on dissent under President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief.

Other defendants on trial with Abdel Fattah received sentences ranging from three to five years.

There was uproar in the courtroom after the verdicts, with supporters of the defendants calling for an end to military rule in Egypt.

Defence lawyers said they would appeal against the ruling.

'Sham trial'

Rights groups have also criticised the case against the al-Jazeera journalists, describing it as an assault on press freedom.

At their original trial, Mr Greste and Mr Fahmy were sentenced to seven years in prison. Mr Mohamed received an additional three-year sentence on a separate charge involving possession of weapons.

The defendants denied the charges, describing their trial as a sham.

Their convictions were overturned on 1 January, when the courts ordered a retrial. Exactly one month later, Mr Greste was released and deported to Australia.

Several students have also been held in the same case. The students deny working for al-Jazeera but it is thought that material filmed on their phones was used by the network.

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Yemen's ex-leader denounces rebels

22 February 2015 Last updated at 00:03

Yemen's ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has accused the Houthi militia that seized power last month of staging a coup.

In his first statement since escaping house arrest in the capital Sanaa, Mr Hadi said all measures taken by the Houthis were "null and illegitimate".

Speaking from his political stronghold in the southern city of Aden, he said he was still the president.

He called upon world powers "to reject the coup".

He had spent weeks under house arrest in Sanaa after the Houthis forced him to resign.

His escape came a day after rival parties agreed on the formation of a governing transitional council.

Yemen has been in crisis since the takeover by the Houthis, a Shia group.

Rebels 'tricked'

In the statement, which he signed as "president of the republic", Mr Hadi called for a national commission to oversee the drafting of a new constitution.

He also called on military and security forces to protect the constitutional government.

UN mediator Jamal Benomar announced a preliminary accord between feuding factions earlier this week and hailed it as "an important step".

It is not clear why Mr Hadi was allowed to leave his home on Saturday. Aides close to the former president told the Associated Press news agency that he was freed after pressure from the UN, the US, Russia and local political parties.

Mr Hadi is said to be at his home in a district of Aden.

Yemen's Houthis

• Follow Zaidism, a branch of Shia Islam
• Launched an insurgency against the government in 2004 to fight for greater autonomy in their northern home province and to protect Zaids
• Named after Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, who led the first uprising. His brother Abdul now leads the group
• Accused of being proxies for Iran, something both deny
• Joined the protests in 2011 that toppled former President Ali Abdullah Saleh
• Control much of northern Yemen but their influence is limited elsewhere.

Who are the Houthis?

His residence in Sanaa was looted after he left, witnesses said.

A source in the Sanaa presidential force said Houthi gunmen had been tricked into looting a vehicle carrying weapons, allowing Mr Hadi to sneak out of a back gate, the AFP news agency reports.

Mr Hadi's supporters in Aden have so far refused to recognise what they denounce as a political coup.

Last week, the governors of the provinces of Aden, Lahij and Mahra demanded the reinstatement of Mr Hadi and reaffirmed their support for Yemen becoming a federation of six regions.

Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa in September, before capturing the presidential palace and placing Mr Hadi under house arrest. He then quit his presidential post, saying he could not continue under such pressure.

The Houthis dissolved parliament and installed a five-member "presidential council" on 6 February.

This sparked security concerns that saw several Arab and Western states close their embassies and remove diplomats.

Since overrunning Sanaa, the Houthis have expanded their control to coastal areas and regions south of the capital.

Their takeover was denounced as a coup by rival political factions and prompted mass protests, mainly from the country's Sunni majority.

The Houthis have also faced fierce resistance from Sunni tribes and al-Qaeda militants.

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'No warning of attack' on Sydney cafe

22 February 2015 Last updated at 08:11

Australia's security hotline received 18 calls about a self-styled cleric just days before his deadly attack on a Sydney cafe - but none suggested an imminent attack, a report says.

The first official review into the attack at the Lindt cafe says the calls related to offensive Facebook posts by hostage-taker Man Haron Monis.

Two hostages were killed along with Monis during the December siege.

"Plainly, the system has let us down," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.

Mr Abbott, who will make a national security address on Monday, said he would consider changes to the legal and immigration systems in response to the siege.

He said Australia would have to reconsider where the line between individual freedoms and the safety of the community would have to be "redrawn".

"This monster should not have been in our community," he added.

Mr Abbott's comments came as he released a 90-page report conducted by officials from the federal government and the government of New South Wales.

Analysis: Phil Mercer, BBC News, Sydney

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has proposed tighter immigration controls at the release of the first official report into last December's deadly siege in Sydney. The gunman was a radical Islamic refugee from Iran who died when police stormed a cafe in the centre of the city.

How and why was an unstable man with radical views and a long criminal history able to bring terror to the heart of Australia's biggest city? Monis was well known to the police and security agencies but was never considered to pose a serious threat.

The Iranian, who was granted asylum in Australia, became a citizen a decade ago. He had been charged with conspiring to murder his ex-wife along with dozens of sexual assaults, and was out on bail at the time of the attack on the Sydney cafe. In 2012, he was convicted of sending hate mail to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Tony Abbott said hard lessons had to be learned and the siege was likely to result in tougher visa, citizenship and bail controls.

Who were the victims?

How the siege unfolded

Inquest findings - excerpts

Australia's radicalised Muslims

The document says that the 18 calls to the national security hotline were made between 9-12 December - three days before the cafe siege.

It says Australia's security service and police considered that the Facebook posts by Monis "contained no indications of an imminent threat".

"On the basis of the information available at the time, he fell well outside the threshold to be included in the 400 highest priority counter-terrorism investigations," the review says.

It adds that Iranian-born Monis - who first came to Australia as a refugee in 1996 and was granted citizenship in 2004 - was "the subject of many law enforcement and security investigations" in the country before the attack.

He had a history of religiously motivated activism and called himself a cleric, but officials have said there is as yet no evidence his actions were linked to international Islamist militant networks.

He was on bail after being charged with dozens of sexual assault charges and with being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, who was stabbed to death and set alight.

Presenting the review, Mr Abbott said that "the decisions made were reasonable at the time, but plainly in their totality the system has let us down".

Monis shot one of the hostages before being shot dead himself when armed officers stormed the cafe, ending the 16-hour standoff.

Another hostage, a mother of three young children, died after being struck by ricochets from police bullets.

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