Toyota to recall 7.4 million cars

10 October 2012 Last updated at 05:03 ET

Toyota is voluntarily recalling more than seven million vehicles worldwide, including some Yaris, Corolla and Camry models, over faulty window switches.

It affects 1.39 million cars in Europe - 138,000 in the UK - 2.47 million in the US and 1.4 million in China.

It is the biggest single recall since Ford called back eight million vehicles in 1996.

Toyota said there had been no reports of accidents, injuries or deaths as a result of the window problem.

Toyota is also recalling 459,000 vehicles in Japan, 650,000 in Australia and Asia, as well as hundreds of thousands from across the Middle East, and from within Canada and its other, smaller markets around the world.

The number of vehicles being recalled is roughly the same as its sales for the whole of its last financial year.

The carmaker did not say how much the recall would cost.

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Toyota's latest recall of millions of faulty cars will do little for its already-dented reputation as a manufacturer of quality cars.

And even though its latest recall over faulty window electrics appears to pose no questions about safety, it will remind drivers of the Japanese carmaker's 's last mass-recalls in 2009 over problems with accelerator pedals.

Arguably - and this has been Toyota's defence all along - it takes a responsible carmaker to recall cars quickly for repairs when they discover that something is wrong.

As such, consumers should perhaps be mollified by Toyota's recall, though in reality it is more likely to be seen as a costly and alienating error.

The range of Toyota cars affected worldwide include certain models of the Yaris, Vios, Corolla, Matrix, Auris, Camry, RAV4, Highlander, Tundra, Sequoia, xB and xD produced between 2005 and 2010.

In the UK, the models affected are the RAV4, Yaris, Auris and Corolla.

It will be contacting drivers with the affected models over the coming weeks and asking them to bring their car in for checks to see if there is a fault.

Toyota said fixing the switch should take about 40 minutes.

Previous problems

Toyota's reputation was damaged in 2009 by a recall that ended up involving 12 million vehicles, fines from US regulators and an eventual apology from the company's head.

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The recall followed problems with accelerator pedals in vehicles, with worries that they could get jammed under floor mats.

Toyota has since overcome massive production problems resulting from the disruption caused by tsunami in early 2011, and has returned to its position as the world's biggest selling car firm.

However, it has recently seen sales in China plummet as a result of Japan's territorial dispute with China.

Latest sales figures released earlier this week show Japanese carmakers' sales to China fell sharply last month, with Toyota's dropping by almost 50%.

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Cell signalling work scoops Nobel

10 October 2012 Last updated at 05:53 ET

The 2012 Nobel prize in chemistry has gone to two US researchers whose work shed light on how the billions of cells in our body sense their environments.

Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka, both of the US, will share the prize of 8m Swedish kronor (£750,000; $1.2m).

Their work focuses on what are called G protein-coupled receptors, a number of proteins that reach through cell walls.

Understanding how they work has been crucial to unravelling the complex network of signalling between cells.

Sven Lidin of the Nobel committee started his summary of the work by shouting "Boo!" to assembled reporters; the rush of adrenaline one gets when scared, he explained, is just one manifestation of this vast network, communicating a chemical signal across billions of cells, through otherwise impenetrable cell membranes.

'Enormous advances'

Dr Lefkowitz, of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland, was reached by phone during the conference. He explained that the receptors "serve as the gateway to the cells for many different neurotransmitters and hormones in our body".

They capture signalling molecules both in healthy bodies and are the target for more than half of all pharmaceutical drugs, as Dr Lefkowitz said.

"They are crucially positioned to regulate almost every known physiological process in humans. As physicians, what we need to do in cases of disease is regulate the activity of these, like adrenaline, as you heard, serotonin, and dopamine."

But signalling goes further than just the network of cells; ulitmately these same receptors link the cells to the outside world, allowing us to see and smell.

Dr Lefkowitz started investigating the receptors by following the movement of radioactive isotopes attached to hormones within cells in the laboratory, trying to track down how signals get through cell membranes.

Dr Kobilka - who is now at Stanford University in California - joined the team in the 1980s, and they took another tack to discover how the receptors come about, searching within the human genome for the code that lays out the genetic instructions for them.

Taken together, the pair's work, as the Nobel site's summary explains, represents "knowledge... of the greatest benefit to mankind".

Mark Sansom of Oxford University said: "G-protein coupled receptors have for a long time been the holy grail of membrane protein research."

"In particular Kobilka's work in determining the structure of G-protein coupled receptors has revolutionised our understanding of how they work as small 'molecular machines' and will lead to enormous advances in drug design.

"Thus this is work at the biology/chemistry interface of great importance, and also with considerable impact in the broader sense."

The first-ever Nobel prize in chemistry was awarded to Dutchman Jacobus van 't Hoff for his research into reaction rates and osmotic pressure.

The total number of chemistry Nobel recipients has now reached 163.

On Monday, the 2012 prize for medicine or physiology was awarded to John Gurdon from the UK and Shinya Yamanaka from Japan for changing adult cells into stem cells, and on Tuesday the prize for physics was awarded to Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the US for their work in querying single light and matter particles.

The prizes for literature and peace will be awarded later in the week, with the economics prize to be announced on Monday.

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Pakistan girl surgery 'a success'

10 October 2012 Last updated at 06:52 ET

Surgeons in Pakistan say they have removed a bullet from a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in the Swat Valley.

Malala Yousafzai, a campaigner for girls' rights, is reported to be in a stable condition after the operation.

Gunmen attacked Miss Yousafzai and also wounded two other girls as they left school on Tuesday, sparking international condemnation.

The militants said they targeted her because she "promoted secularism".

A spokesman for the Islamist militant group, Ehsanullah Ehsan, told BBC Urdu on Tuesday that Miss Yousafzai would not be spared if she survived.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says the authorities will now have to consider how to protect the girl.

He says her family never thought about getting security because they just did not think that militants would stoop so low as to target her.

Doctors said one of the other girls shot in the attack was in a critical condition, and the other was not seriously hurt.

'Icon of courage'

Miss Yousafzai came to public attention in 2009 by writing a diary for BBC Urdu about life under Taliban militants who had taken control of the valley.

The group captured the Swat Valley in late 2007 and remained in de facto control until they were driven out by Pakistani military forces during an offensive in 2009.

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Malala Yousafzai began her blog at the age of 11

While in power they closed girls' schools, promulgated Islamic law and introduced measures such as banning the playing of music in cars.

Miss Yousafzai's brother, Mubashir Hussain, told the BBC that the militants were "cruel, brutal people" and urged all Pakistanis to condemn them.

Pakistani politicians led by the president and prime minister condemned the shooting, which the US state department has called barbaric and cowardly.

President Zardari said the attack would not shake Pakistan's resolve to fight Islamist militants or the government's determination to support women's education.

In a statement, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said the Taliban had "failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage".

Thousands of people around the world have sent the teenage campaigner messages of support via social media.

Miss Yousafzai was flown from Mingora, where the attack happened, to the city of Peshawar, 150km (95 miles) away, for surgery.

Doctors in Peshawar removed the bullet early on Wednesday morning, hospital officials told the BBC.

Continue reading the main story

At that time some of us would go to school in plain clothes, not in school uniform, just to pretend we are not students, and we hid our books under our shawls"

End Quote Malala Yousafzai

A medically equipped plane is on stand-by at Peshawar airport as medical experts try to determine whether she will need to be flown out of the country for further treatment.

Miss Yousafzai earned the admiration of many across Pakistan for her courage in speaking out about life under the rule of Taliban militants, correspondents say.

She was just 11 when she started her diary, two years after the Taliban took over the Swat Valley and ordered girls' schools to close.

Writing under the pen-name Gul Makai for the BBC's Urdu service, she exposed the suffering caused by the militants.

Her identity emerged after the Taliban were driven out of Swat. She later won a national award for bravery and was nominated for an international children's peace award.

Since the Taliban were ejected, there have been isolated militant attacks in Swat but the region has largely remained stable and many of the thousands of people who fled during the Taliban years have returned.

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Pussy Riot: One defendant freed

10 October 2012 Last updated at 07:02 ET

A Moscow court has freed one of the convicted women from the punk band Pussy Riot but upheld two-year jail terms for the other two.

There were cheers in court when the two-year jail term of Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, was suspended.

Earlier the trio spoke defiantly at the appeal hearing, saying their protest song was political and not anti-Church.

In August they were jailed for staging an anti-Kremlin protest in Moscow's main cathedral, Christ the Saviour.

Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred".

Their imprisonment sparked widespread international condemnation.

The judges on Wednesday accepted the argument of Samutsevich's lawyer - that Samutsevich had been thrown out of the cathedral by guards before she could remove her guitar from its case for the band's "punk prayer".

The other band members cheered and hugged Samutsevich when the decision was read out.

Earlier Alyokhina told the hearing: "We're all innocent... the verdict should be overturned. The Russian justice system looks discredited".

Alyokhina said that "of course we didn't want to offend worshippers" when they protested at the cathedral's altar.

She said the trio's apologies had been ignored, but repentance was out of the question.

"For us to repent - that's unacceptable, it's a kind of blackmail," she said, adding that repentance was a personal matter, unconnected with a legal case.

She added she had "lost hope in this trial".

The three women sat in a glass cage in court, facing a three-judge panel.

'Punk prayer'

The band performed an obscenity-laced song at the Moscow cathedral on 21 February.

Tolokonnikova told the court "it's as clear as daylight that this was a political act, not anti-religious... I ask you to quash this sentence".

Alyokhina warned that if they were sent to a penal colony for two years "we won't stay silent - even in Mordovia, or Siberia - however uncomfortable that is for you".

Their "punk prayer" - which implored the Virgin Mary to "throw out" President Vladimir Putin and sought, the band said, to highlight the Russian Orthodox Church leader's support for the president - enraged the Church.

But while the Church hierarchy said the women's action "cannot be left unpunished", it added that any penitence shown should be taken into consideration.

Those comments followed a suggestion from Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that a suspended sentence would have been sufficient punishment.

But Mr Putin last week defended the sentence, speaking on Russian NTV television.

"It's right that they were arrested, it's right that the court took that decision, because you can't undermine the foundations of morality, our moral values, destroy the country. What would we be left with then?" Mr Putin said.

Opinion polls in Russia suggest a majority backing the sentence against Pussy Riot, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports from Moscow. One poll found 43% of respondents considered the sentence too lenient.

On Wednesday the judge rejected two motions from defence lawyers to call in experts for their opinions and more witnesses from the cathedral. The defendants' plea to hold a fresh psychological and linguistic evaluation of their protest song was also rejected.

The first appeal hearing on 1 October was unexpectedly adjourned when Samutsevich announced that she wanted a new lawyer to defend her.

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ICC holds Saif Gaddafi hearing

9 October 2012 Last updated at 06:29 ET

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is holding its first public hearing in the case of one of the sons of Libyan leader Col Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam.

He is accused of committing war crimes against the rebels who overthrew his father last year.

His ICC lawyers are expected to argue he will not receive a fair trial in Libya, where he is currently held.

But the Libyan authorities say he should be tried in the country where he is accused of committing crimes.

At the beginning of the two-day hearing, Libyan lawyer Ahmed al-Jehani called for the international community to "be patient", telling ICC judges the Libyan authorities "needed time" to organise a fair trial for Saif Gaddafi.

Mr Jehani told the judges they had not ruled out some level of ICC involvement.

This is the first time the ICC defence team has come face to face with the Libyan lawyers in court, says the BBC's Anna Holligan in The Hague.

The Libyan authorities have made no secret of the fact that they have absolutely no intention of handing Saif Gaddafi over to the ICC, our correspondent says.

If they do want to play by the rules and win the right to try Saif Gaddafi at home, they must convince the judges they can do the job and that Mr Gaddafi will face a fair hearing at home.

Continue reading the main story

• Born 1972
• Stylish, English-speaking bachelor
• Trained engineer
• Long seen as likely successor to his father - suggestions he played down
• Previously seen as reformist face of his father's regime
• Played key role in rapprochement with the West from 2000-2011
• Accused of organising brutal crackdown on opposition protests in February

They must show they are conducting their own investigations, and are willing to prosecute Mr Gaddafi for the same alleged crimes that are listed on the ICC's arrest warrant.

One of the lawyers representing Libya, Philippe Sands, has confirmed Mr Gaddafi is still being held by the Zintan Brigade in Libya, adding he will be transferred to a secure detention facility in Tripoli before trial.

Tug of war

The pre-trial session is part of an ongoing battle between Libya and the ICC over where the son of the former Libyan leader should face justice, our correspondent adds.

Melinda Taylor, the ICC's defence lawyer who was arrested while visiting Mr Gaddafi, will be presenting her findings during the hearing.

She is expected to tell the judges she does not believe her client will receive a fair trial in Libya.

Mr Gaddafi has been held in the western mountain town of Zintan for almost a year.

During that time, the Libyan authorities have repeatedly rejected requests to hand him over for trial in The Hague.

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Tight Athens security for Merkel

9 October 2012 Last updated at 07:17 ET

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The BBC's Mark Lowen says the decision to close most of Athens' streets tells a great deal about local people's feelings towards Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived amid heavy security for her first Greek visit since the eurozone crisis erupted nearly three years ago.

Some 7,000 police officers are on duty, public gatherings are banned in certain areas of the city and protesters were warned to "protect the peace".

However, many streamed into central squares carrying anti-Merkel banners.

The visit comes as Greece bids to pass new cuts of 13bn euros (£10.5bn; $17bn) to qualify for more bailout cash.

While Germany has contributed the most money in the bailing out of Greece, BBC Europe editor Gavin Hewitt says its chancellor is held responsible for demanding that Greece make swingeing cuts in exchange for the financing it has received.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

This is a highly symbolic visit, though it won't be an easy one. Angela Merkel will aim to show solidarity with debt-ridden Greece - a crucial endorsement of the government here as it agrees on a new wave of spending cuts.

In the past she stayed away, she was critical of the slow pace of reform. Now she's keen to encourage, voicing her support for Greece's place in the euro. But she's reviled by many ordinary Greeks, who see her as the driving force behind painful austerity measures.

Protests are planned. Newspapers have made Nazi references. Beneath the tension, though, lies a crucial relationship: Greece depends on German money and the chancellor wants to preserve the single currency. And so both governments will play up their links, talking of a shared purpose, while on the streets, anger against Mrs Merkel will continue to boil.

Ahead of the visit, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi told the European Parliament that Greece had made progress, although "further work" was needed.

Mr Draghi told the parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Tuesday: "It's quite clear that the progress at the level of undertaking the necessary policy reform has been perceptible and significant and it's also clear that more needs to be done."

There has been growing unrest in Greece at the planned new cutbacks.

'No to Fourth Reich'

Mrs Merkel arrived in Athens on schedule at 13:30 local time (10:30 GMT) to be met by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Police have banned protests on Tuesday in much of central Athens, and within a 100m radius of the route Mrs Merkel's motorcade will travel.

However, outside the lockdown zone, thousands of people have gathered, some carrying banners with slogans such as "No to the Fourth Reich".

A three-hour strike has also been called for the beginning of the afternoon.

Mrs Merkel will be in Athens for about six hours, and will hold talks with Mr Samaras, followed by a joint press conference and then a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias.

The capital is said to be carrying out its biggest security operation in a decade.

Left-wing newspapers on Tuesday encouraged widespread, but non-violent protests.

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Vassilis, Athens resident: "She should see how the people are suffering"

A spokesperson for the leftist Syriza party, Yiannis Bournos, told the BBC's Newsday it was expecting huge demonstrations.

"People are frustrated and enraged because they clearly understand that Mrs Merkel's visit is just a theatre play for the political support of a collapsing coalition," Mr Bournos said.

On Monday, public order minister Nikos Dendias appealed to protesters to "protect the peace, and above all our country's prospects and our international image", Reuters news agency reported.

The Greek government says the visit is a "positive step".

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told Greek television: "We believe this is a message of faith in the course of the Greek government, the Greek economy."

And despite the protests, some Athens citizens were upbeat about the visit.

Constantinos Siathas told Associated Press: "I think most people, at least those who think and don't act based on feelings or utopian ideas, are pleased and are expecting a lot from Mrs Merkel's visit."

The trip is a gamble, our Europe editor says. If there is chaos on the streets, it will only underline for the German public that Greece is a lost cause.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Chancellor Merkel has gambled that the visit will demonstrate she intends to stand behind the Greeks"

End Quote

But he says that the visit - her first to Greece in five years - is sending a symbolic message that she wants Greece to stay in the eurozone.

Speaking on Monday, Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup finance ministers of the eurozone, raised the pressure on Greece, calling on the government to demonstrate it could implement planned reforms "by 18 October at the latest" to qualify for the next bailout instalment of 31.5bn euros.

He was speaking as the eurozone's new permanent fund to bail out struggling economies and banks was formally launched at the finance ministers' meeting.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday that the global economic recovery was weakening, with government policies having failed to restore confidence.

It added that the risk of further deterioration in the economic outlook was "considerable" and had increased.

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Young Pakistani campaigner shot

9 October 2012 Last updated at 07:03 ET

A 14-year-old rights activist who has campaigned for girls' education has been shot and injured in the Swat Valley in north-west Pakistan.

Malala Yousafzai was attacked on her way home from school in Mingora, the region's main town.

Nominated for an international peace award, she came to public attention in 2009 by writing a diary for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban.

Taliban militants overran Swat before being ejected by the army that year.

It is unclear if the girl was the target of the attack, but she has been threatened in the past.

She was travelling with at least one other girl when she was shot but there are differing accounts of how events unfolded.

One report, citing local sources, says a bearded gunman stopped a car full of schoolgirls, and asked for Malala Yousafzai by name, before opening fire.

But a police official also told BBC Urdu that unidentified gunmen opened fire on the schoolgirls as they were about to board a van or bus.

Continue reading the main story

At that time some of us would go to school in plain clothes, not in school uniform, just to pretend we are not students, and we hid our books under our shawls."

End Quote Malala Yousafzai

Initial reports say she was hit in the head or neck area but is now in hospital and is reportedly out of danger. Another girl who was with Malala at the time was also injured.

'Courage'

Malala Yousafzai was just 11 when she was writing her diary, two years after the Taliban took over the Swat Valley, and ordered girls' schools to close.

In the diary, which she kept for the BBC's Urdu service under a pen name, she exposed the suffering caused by the militants as they ruled.

She used the pen-name Gul Makai when writing the diary. Her identity only emerged after the Taliban were driven out of Swat and she later won a national award for bravery and was also nominated for an international children's peace award.

Correspondents say she earned the admiration of many across Pakistan for her courage in speaking out about life under the brutal rule of Taliban militants.

One poignant entry reflects on the Taliban decree banning girls' education: "Since today was the last day of our school, we decided to play in the playground a bit longer. I am of the view that the school will one day reopen but while leaving I looked at the building as if I would not come here again."

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Malala Yousafzai began her blog at the age of 11

She has since said that she wants to study law and enter politics when she grows up. "I dreamt of a country where education would prevail," she said.

Taliban driven out

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad says that Malala Yusafzai was a public figure who didn't shy away from risks and had strong support from her parents for her activism. Indeed, her father, who is a school teacher, expressed his pride in her campaigning.

In a statement about the attack, Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said: "We have to fight the mindset that is involved in this. We have to condemn it... Malala is like my daughter, and yours too. If that mindset prevails, then whose daughter would be safe? "

The Taliban, under the notorious militant cleric Maulana Fazlullah, took hold of the Swat Valley in late 2007 and remained in de facto control until they were driven out by Pakistani military forces during an offensive in 2009.

While in power they closed girls' schools, promulgated Sharia law and introduced measures such as banning the playing of music in cars.

Since they were ejected, there have been isolated militant attacks in Swat but the region has largely remained stable and many of the thousands of people who fled during the Taliban years have returned.

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Syria intelligence complex bombed

9 October 2012 Last updated at 07:11 ET

Rebels have carried out a suicide bomb attack overnight on an intelligence agency compound in a suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, reports say.

The al-Nusra Front, a jihadist militant group, said explosives-filled vehicles had been blown up outside the Air Force Intelligence complex in Harasta.

Residents said there were several huge blasts, followed by fierce clashes.

One activist group said dozens of people were killed and expressed fears for the fate of the agency's prisoners.

Human rights activists say hundreds of opponents of President Bashar al-Assad have been detained and tortured by Air Force Intelligence (AFI) across the country since the uprising began in March 2011.

AFI is seen by some as the elite agency of Syria's intelligence empire.

Though smaller than Military Intelligence, in the past it has played a leading role in operations against Islamist opposition groups, as well as covert actions abroad, and has a reputation for brutality.

'Citadel of repression'

Continue reading the main story

The fate of hundreds of prisoners being held in the basements of the [Air Force Intelligence complex] is still unknown"

End Quote Rami Abdul Rahman Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

A statement issued by the al-Nusra Front said it had targeted the AFI "because it is one of the most notorious security divisions, and a citadel of repression whose extent is known only to God".

The group, which has claimed to be behind a series of deadly bombings since January, said a vehicle packed with nine tonnes of explosives had been driven up to the AFI compound in Harasta and blown up.

Twenty-five minutes later, another al-Nusra Front fighter blew up a one-tonne bomb hidden inside an ambulance, targeting survivors, it added. The fighters then fired mortars at the complex, the statement said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group, reported that several large explosions had shaken homes overnight in Harasta, as well as in the nearby suburbs of Jobar and Qabun.

The blasts were followed by violent clashes in several parts of Harasta, with government forces firing heavy weapons and mortars, it added.

The head of the SOHR, Rami Abdul Rahman, told the AFP news agency that dozens of people had been killed in the suicide attacks.

"The fate of hundreds of prisoners being held in the basements of the [security complex] is still unknown," he added. "The regime has not said a word about what happened last night."

The SOHR is one of the most prominent organisations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be verified.

A Syrian official told the Associated Press that a suicide bomber had detonated a car bomb near the AFI complex, while the pro-government TV channel, al-Ikhbariya, reported that the blast was followed by clashes.

'Unbearable' conflict

Elsewhere on Tuesday, government forces continued to attack rebel strongholds in the central city of Homs and the nearby town of Qusayr.

One security official told AFP that the army was trying to recapture besieged areas by the end of the week.

News of the violence came as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Syrian government to immediately declare a unilateral ceasefire, and the opposition to abide by it.

"It is unbearable for the Syrian people to continue like this," he told a joint news conference in Paris with French President Francois Hollande.

Mr Ban also called on countries to stop supplying weapons to both sides.

On Monday, the BBC found evidence that weapons intended for the Saudi military have been found at a base used by Syrian rebels.

The BBC's Ian Pannell saw crates from a Ukrainian arms manufacturer - addressed to Saudi Arabia - at a rebel camp in the city of Aleppo.

Our correspondent says there is believed to be an increasing supply of weapons and ammunition being paid for by supporters of the Syrian rebels in the Gulf. Saudi officials have refused to comment.

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SpaceX lifts off with ISS cargo

7 October 2012 Last updated at 20:49 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

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SpaceX's Dragon capsule is set to reach the orbiting space lab on Wednesday.

The first commercially contracted re-supply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has begun.

A Falcon rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule lifted clear of Cape Canaveral in Florida at 20:35 (00:35 GMT).

The robotic Dragon ship will deliver 400kg of food, clothing, experiments and spares to the orbiting platform's six astronauts.

It is the maiden flight in a sequence of 12 missions that California's SpaceX company is performing for Nasa.

The US space agency is looking to the private sector to assume routine transport duties to and from low-Earth orbit.

It has given SpaceX a $1.6bn contract to keep the ISS stocked up with essentials, restoring a re-supply capability that the US lost when it retired the shuttles last year.

The terms of the contract kicked in following a successful test of Dragon's systems in May.

That demonstration saw the capsule berth with the ISS - the first commercially designed and built vehicle to do so - and then return safely to Earth.

Nasa has a second company it hopes also can soon begin operational cargo deliveries to the station.

The Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) will shortly test its new Antares rocket before undertaking its own ISS demonstration with a robotic vessel called Cygnus.

If that mission - tipped to take place next year - goes well then it will trigger a $1.9bn contract for Orbital.

Nasa wants eventually to put astronaut transport in the hands of the private sector, too.

SpaceX is eyeing this business as well, and is developing the critical life-support and safety systems that would turn Dragon into a human-rated vehicle. The company says it is just a few years away from being able to provide an astronaut "taxi" service.

Nasa's policy of outsourcing its cargo and crew transport needs is intended to find savings that can be ploughed back into building a rocket and capsule system capable of taking humans beyond low-Earth to more challenging destinations.

"We're handing off to the private sector our transportation to the International Space Station so that Nasa can focus on what we do best - exploring even deeper into our Solar System, with missions to an asteroid and Mars on the horizon," explained agency administrator Charles Bolden.

Sunday's nine-minute, 14-second ascent to orbit appeared flawless.

The Falcon dropped the Dragon off in an elliptical path running from 197km above the Earth out to 328km.

"Dragon was inserted into a picture-perfect orbit," said SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell. "Its solar arrays deployed and it's driving its way to station. So, that's just awesome."

Dragon must raise itself to the ISS's altitude, which is presently at more than 400km.

It is scheduled to arrive at the station on Wednesday. It will follow the routine established in May of parking itself just below the platform so that it can be grabbed by a robotic arm and pulled into a berthing port.

The attachment should take place at about 0540GMT.

Dragon is expected to return to Earth at the end of the month.

Its cargo then will include broken machinery and science materials that need to be handed back to researchers.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

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US issues Huawei and ZTE warning

8 October 2012 Last updated at 04:42 ET

Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE pose a security threat to the US, a congressional panel has warned after an investigation into the two companies.

The two firms should be barred from any mergers and acquisitions in the US, the panel has recommended in its report set to be released later on Monday.

It said the firms had failed to allay fears about their association with the Chinese government and military.

The two are among the world's biggest makers of telecom networking equipment.

"China has the means, opportunity and motive to use telecommunications companies for malicious purposes," the committee said in its report.

"Based on available classified and unclassified information, Huawei and ZTE cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems."

Both Huawei and ZTE have previously denied the allegations.

China's Foreign Ministry urged the US to "set aside prejudices" regarding the two firms.

"Chinese telecoms companies have been developing their international business based on market economy principles," ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

"Their investment in the United States embodies the mutually beneficial nature of Sino-American economic and trade relations."

Continue reading the main story

Purporting that Huawei is somehow uniquely vulnerable to cyber mischief ignores technical and commercial realities, recklessly threatens American jobs and innovation, does nothing to protect national security, and should be exposed as dangerous political distractions"

End Quote William Plummer Huawei

Espionage fears

Huawei was started by Ren Zhengfei, a former member of the People's Liberation Army, in 1987.

As the firm has grown to become one of the largest global players in the sector, fears about its ties with the Chinese military have frequently surfaced.

There have been concerns and allegations that it was helping China gather information on foreign states and companies, charges that the firm has denied.

Last year, its purchase of American computer company 3Leaf systems, was rejected by a US security panel.

Earlier this year, it along with ZTE, faced allegations that some of their equipment had been installed with codes to relay sensitive information back to China.

Senior executives from the two companies denied those allegations when they appeared before US lawmakers in September.

Political distraction?

This latest report comes in the midst of a US presidential campaign in which China has become a political hot topic.

Both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney have pledged to increase the pressure on Beijing on issues ranging from China's currency policy to state subsidies for Chinese firms.

Earlier this month, Mr Obama signed an order blocking a deal by a Chinese firm, Ralls Corp, to acquire four wind farm projects near a US naval facility in Oregon.

It was the first foreign investment to be blocked in the US for 22 years.

The Chinese firm has since sued Mr Obama, alleging the US government overstepped its authority.

William Plummer, Huawei's vice-president, said the latest accusations against the telecom firm were politically motivated.

"The integrity and independence of Huawei's organization and business practices are trusted and respected across almost 150 markets," he was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"Purporting that Huawei is somehow uniquely vulnerable to cyber mischief ignores technical and commercial realities, recklessly threatens American jobs and innovation, does nothing to protect national security, and should be exposed as dangerous political distractions."

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