Melanoma 'hits body's immune system'

1 March 2013 Last updated at 21:40 ET

A deadly form of skin cancer is able to fend off the body's immune system, UK researchers have found.

Analysis of tumour and blood samples shows that melanoma knocks out the body's best immune defence.

A potential test could work out which patients are likely to respond to treatment, the Journal of Clinical Investigation reports.

Cancer Research UK said the body's response was a "complex puzzle".

Previous work from the team at King's College London showed that while patients with melanoma produced antibodies that could attack tumour cells, the immune system often seemed powerless to stop the cancer progressing.

But in the latest research they discovered that the subtype of antibody attracted by the melanoma cells was the most ineffective at mounting the right sort of response.

In samples from 80 melanoma patients they say that the conditions created by the tumour attract IgG4 antibodies, which mount the weakest response and in turn interfere with any "strong" IgG1 antibodies that might be present.

Continue reading the main story

This work is still at an early stage, but it's a step towards developing more effective treatments for skin cancer"

End Quote Dr Kat Arney Cancer Research UK

By mimicking the conditions created by melanomas, they showed that in the presence of tumour cells, the immune system sent out IgG4 antibodies, but when faced with healthy cells it functioned as expected with IgG1 circulating.

They also confirmed that IgG4 was ineffective in launching an immune attack against cancer cells.

Potential test

In additional tests in 33 patients, they found that those with higher levels of the weak antibody IgG4 had a less favourable prognosis compared with those with levels nearer to normal.

Study author Dr Sophie Karagiannis said: "This work bears important implications for future therapies since not only are IgG4 antibodies ineffective in activating immune cells to kill tumours but they also work by blocking antibodies from killing tumour cells."

She said not only was IgG4 stopping the patient's more powerful antibodies from eradicating cancer, but it could also explain why some treatments based on boosting the immune response may be less effective in some patients.

Co-author Prof Frank Nestle said more work was needed on developing IgG4 as a potential test to improve patient care by helping to identify patients most likely to respond to treatments.

"This study can also inform the rational design of novel strategies to counteract IgG4 actions," he added.

Dr Kat Arney, science communications manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "There's a lot we don't yet understand about how our immune system recognises and responds to cancer, so we're pleased to have supported this new research that's helping to solve such a complex puzzle.

"This work is still at an early stage, but it's a step towards developing more effective treatments for skin cancer and potentially other types of cancer in the future."

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Obama signs budget cuts into effect

2 March 2013 Last updated at 01:57 ET

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President Obama said the cuts were "dumb and arbitrary"

US President Barack Obama has signed into effect a wave of steep spending cuts which he has warned could damage the US economy.

The cuts - known as the sequester and drawn up two years ago - will take $85bn (£56bn) from the US federal budget this year.

Last-ditch talks at the White House to avert the reductions before Friday's deadline broke up without agreement.

The IMF has warned the cuts could slow global economic growth.

The BBC's Mark Mardell in Washington says the cuts were designed to be so brutally painful that politicians would be forced to agree on a better way of balancing the books.

However, as the midnight deadline loomed on Friday, Mr Obama and Republican congressional leaders still failed to agree on a way to avoid them.

The two sides are at odds over the president's insistence on raising taxes as part of any plan for tackling the country's $16.6 trillion (£11tn) debt.

Continue reading the main story

Mr Obama was as insistent today as he has been ever since 6 November - his election victory gives him a moral mandate and deprives the Republicans of theirs"

End Quote

After the White House talks broke up, Mr Obama blamed Republicans for the impasse.

"They've allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit," he said.

He warned the cuts - if fully realised - would slow US economic growth by half of 1% and cost 750,000 jobs.

"We shouldn't be making a series of dumb, arbitrary cuts to things that businesses depend on and workers depend on," he said.

Unpaid leave

The sequester was drawn up in mid-2011 as Congress and the White House feuded over raising the debt ceiling and how to slash the huge US deficit.

Republicans wanted deep cuts in spending while Democrats insisted on raising taxes.

At the end of 2012 Congress and the White House struck a dramatic deal to avoid what was dubbed the "fiscal cliff", that included expiring tax breaks and the sequester.

Republicans agreed to Mr Obama's demand to raise taxes for the rich and Congress postponed the deadline for the budget cuts until 1 March.

About half the cuts will come from the defence budget. Incoming defence secretary Chuck Hagel has warned of "significant impacts" on the military.

He said the cuts "will cause pain, particularly among our civilian workforce and their families".

"Let me make it clear that this uncertainty puts at risk our ability to effectively fulfil all of our missions," Mr Hagel said.

"Later this month, we intend to issue preliminary notifications to thousands of civilian employees who will be furloughed [put on unpaid leave]."

Defence officials say 800,000 civilian employees will have their working week reduced. They say they will also have to scale back flight hours for warplanes and postpone some equipment maintenance.

The deployment of a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf has also been cancelled.

On Friday, Republican House Speaker John Boehner reiterated his party's refusal to allow taxes to rise and challenged the gridlocked US Senate to pass a bill first before the House acted on a plan.

"Let's make it clear that the president got his tax hikes on 1 January," he said as he left the White House. "The discussion about revenue, in my view, is over. It's about taking on the spending problem."

Correspondents say attention will now turn to the next congressional challenge - a possible shutdown of the US government if no funding bill is passed in the next month.

On 27 March a temporary federal budget that has kept the federal government running since 2012 is due to expire.

House Republicans have said they will vote on a bill next week to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, on 30 September, but keep in place some automatic cuts taking effect on Friday.

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Chad says al-Qaeda man dead in Mali

2 March 2013 Last updated at 02:29 ET

A senior al-Qaeda militant has been killed in northern Mali, Chadian President Idriss Deby has said.

He said the country's forces killed Abdelhamid Abou Zeid during clashes in the remote region.

He is said to be second-in-command of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which is fighting foreign forces in Mali.

The Algerian national is accused of killing two Western hostages - Briton Edwin Dyer in 2009 and Frenchman Michel Germaneau the following year.

BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy says that, if confirmed, his death will immediately raise questions over the state of several French hostages who are widely believed to have been in Abou Zeid's custody.

A US official - speaking on condition of anonymity - said Washington found reports that Abou Zeid was killed "very credible", according to the AFP news agency.

However, France reacted with caution to the reports, with government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem stressing that his death was so far unconfirmed.

Earlier unverified reports in the French media said that the militant was killed during fighting against French army units.

In January France sent some 3,500 troops to northern Mali to oust various Islamist militant groups who had seized a vast area of the Sahara desert.

Chad is one of several African countries to have supported the French operation.

'Most violent commander'

After recapturing the region's main towns, French and Chadian troops have been battling Islamist fighters in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains north of Kidal, where the militants had regrouped, in recent weeks.

Algeria's Ennahar TV reported earlier this week that Abou Zeid was among 40 militants killed in the area near the Algerian border.

"Chadian forces killed two jihadi leaders, including Abou Zeid," President Deby said on Friday.

He was speaking after the funerals of Chadian soldiers killed in the fighting.

"On February 22, we lost several soldiers in the Ifoghas mountains after destroying the jihadists' base. This was the first time there was a direct confrontation with the jihadists, " the president was reported as saying.

Algerian media have reported that security operatives have taken DNA samples from two of Abou Zeid's relatives to compare with the body which is reportedly his.

Abou Zeid - believed to be in his 40s - was known as the most violent al-Qaeda commander in the region.

He was last seen in public in the Malian cities of Timbuktu and Gao seized by Islamist groups last year.

Francoise Larribe whose husband, Daniel, was abducted while working in Niger in 2010, told French media she feared "reprisals if he really has lost his life in a military operation".

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Hugo Chavez 'has more chemotherapy'

2 March 2013 Last updated at 04:33 ET

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is receiving chemotherapy in a Caracas hospital after cancer surgery in Cuba, the vice-president has revealed.

Nicolas Maduro was speaking after a Mass at a military hospital in honour of the president.

On Thursday, he went on TV to say Mr Chavez was battling for his life.

The Venezuelan leader, re-elected in October last year, returned to Caracas last month, but little has been heard about his condition until now.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

While everybody watches and waits, and politicians get ready for a possible election, what is certain is that Venezuela's future depends on Mr Chavez's health"

End Quote

Irene Caselli BBC News, Caracas

---

Photos of him in smiling in bed, with his daughters beside him, were released shortly before he was flown home.

Late on Friday, a Mass was held at a new chapel at the Caracas Military Hospital, where the authorities say he was taken for treatment last week. One of the president's daughters, Maria Gabriela, and senior officials attended the Mass.

"The treatments Commander Chavez is receiving are tough, but he is stronger than them," the vice-president told reporters as he left the chapel.

He was speaking after opposition leader Henrique Capriles accused him of lying repeatedly about the president's "real situation".

As speculation mounts about the president's future, a number of students have chained themselves together in a street in the capital, insisting the government "tells the truth".

'Complementary treatments'

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

President Chavez is very creative and his hands won't be tied when it comes to communicating orders"

End Quote Nicolas Maduro Venezuelan Vice-President

The government says Mr Chavez is breathing with the help of a tracheal tube and meeting senior ministers from his sickbed at the military hospital.

Mr Maduro told reporters that after a "general improvement" in his condition, the doctors had decided to start "complementary treatments".

"Do you know what complementary treatments are? They are chemotherapy that is applied to patients after operations."

He added that the president was communicating with his aides "in writing and other ways he has come up with".

"You know that President Chavez is very creative and his hands won't be tied when it comes to communicating orders, guidelines and concerns."

The 58-year-old president, who has been in office for 14 years, revealed he had cancer in June 2011 and has already had four operations, as well as chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

It is believed he has cancer in his pelvic area but his exact illness has never been disclosed.

Last seen in public late last year, he was reported to have suffered a severe respiratory infection after treatment in Havana.

He was re-elected for another six-year term in October 2012, but the Supreme Court ruled that his swearing-in could be delayed because of his illness.

The BBC's Irene Caselli, in Caracas, says more than half of Venezuelans believe the president will recover from his illness, although almost a third do not believe he will return to power.

The vice-president has been named by Mr Chavez as his successor. If the president is unable to return to office, an election must be held within 30 days under the constitution.

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Turkey PM's Zionism remarks attacked

1 March 2013 Last updated at 05:22 ET

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been heavily criticised by the US, Israel and the UN for branding Zionism a "crime against humanity".

He told a UN forum this week: "As with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it is inevitable that Islamophobia be considered a crime against humanity."

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called the comments "dark and mendacious".

New US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to raise the issue when he meets Turkey's leaders on Friday.

He is in Ankara for talks on the crisis in Syria.

But his visit has been overshadowed by Mr Erdogan's comments, comparing Zionism with fascism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, at a meeting of the UN Alliance of Civilisations Forum in Vienna earlier this week.

His words drew strong condemnation from Mr Netanyahu's office, which called them "a dark and mendacious statement the likes of which we thought had passed from the world".

In the US, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said "the characterisation of Zionism as a crime against humanity... is offensive and wrong".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's office said he heard Mr Erdogan's speech through an interpreter, and called it "unfortunate that such hurtful and divisive comments were uttered at a meeting being held under the theme of responsible leadership".

Relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated since May 2010 when nine Turkish activists aboard a flotilla of aid ships trying to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza were killed in clashes with Israeli troops.

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China parades condemned killers

1 March 2013 Last updated at 05:29 ET

Four foreign men have been executed in China for the murder of 13 Chinese fishermen on the Mekong river in 2011, after being paraded on state TV.

The men were put to death by lethal injection in Kunming, Yunnan province.

CCTV News broadcast live footage of the men being taken from their cells to the execution site, though it did not show the moment of death.

Many social media users in China have reacted angrily, condemning the broadcast as insensitive.

It is believed to be the first time in China's recent history that live footage of condemned criminals being taken to their execution has been broadcast.

Chinese internet users spoke out against the special programme, in what some are saying was a throw-back to the execution rallies of China's past.

Powerful warlord

Among the prisoners was Naw Kham, a Burmese man thought to have been one of the most powerful warlords in the Golden Triangle of Thailand, Laos and Burma.

China's state television channel CCTV aired an interview with Naw Kham on Thursday in which he said he missed his mother and his children.

Announcing the execution on Twitter, state news agency Xinhua tweeted a photograph of Naw Kham with his hands clasped in front of his forehead. It is unclear when this picture was taken.

Xinhua has said the men had had their "legal rights fully respected" while on death row.

China's foreign ministry said the case highlighted its determination to tackle cross-border crime.

"I think an important message that this case sends is that it shows the determination of China and the governments of relevant countries to work hard together to combat cross-border crime," Hua Chunying spokesman for China's foreign ministry said.

River security

The 13 fishermen were found dead inside two Chinese cargo ships in October 2011 on the Thai side of the river.

State media said Naw Kham and his subordinates had collaborated with Thai soldiers in launching an attack on the ships, the Hua Ping and Yu Xing.

The other men were Hsang Kham from Thailand, Yi Lai, who is stateless, and Zha Xika from Laos, said the Xinhua news agency.

The group were arrested in Laos and brought to China in May last year, after Beijing said the attack had happened on board Chinese-flagged ships.

In November, they were found guilty of intentional homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping and hijacking.

Two other members of the gang were also convicted - one received a death sentence with reprieve and the other eight years in prison.

Thailand launched an investigation into the allegations against nine of its soldiers in connection with the incident.

The attack came amid a wave of hijacking of vessels sailing on the Mekong which were blamed on gangs operating in the notorious drug-trafficking region.

China, Burma, Laos and Thailand launched joint security patrols on the Mekong in response.

Li Zhuqun, a senior international co-operation official at China's Ministry of Public Security said the gang had now been broken up, but that "efforts to ensure the safety of the Mekong River will continue".

"We will continue patrols and law enforcement co-operation with the other three countries to safeguard shipping on the river," he told China Daily.

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US faces $85bn budget cuts deadline

1 March 2013 Last updated at 06:03 ET

US political leaders are to meet for last-ditch talks at the White House, amid the prospect of steep budget cuts.

Cuts worth $85bn (£56bn), originally tabled in an effort to force Congress to strike a budget deal, are due become law by the end of Friday.

President Barack Obama will host Democratic and Republican leaders, amid a raging blame-game in Washington. Congress has adjourned for the weekend.

The IMF has said the cuts could have an impact on global growth.

Analysis in the US suggests the nation's GDP (economic output) could grow by just 1.4% in 2013 if the cuts are not delayed or replaced. US GDP grew by 2.2% in 2012.

The White House meeting comes as prospects for a deal to avert the cuts, known as the sequesters, appear extremely slim.

Budget bills from both parties were defeated in the Senate on Thursday.

Although Republicans and Democrats both say they want to reduce the $16tn deficit, the president accused Senate Republicans of allowing the cuts to proceed.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

There is seemingly no end to this toxic tale of cruel dismemberment and government by crisis"

End Quote

Mr Obama favours what he calls a "balanced" approach to deficit reduction, mixing cuts with tax rises for some Americans.

"They voted to let the entire burden of deficit reduction fall squarely on the middle class," he said of his rivals, in a statement on Thursday.

He criticised Republicans for refusing to close "a single tax loophole that benefits the well-off and well-connected."

The president said that by not doing a budget deal to avoid the cuts, Congress would impose a "self-inflicted wound" on America.

But Republicans contend that the president and his advisers created and proposed the idea of the cuts during budget negotiations in 2011.

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner has referred repeatedly to "the president's sequester", according to Politico.

'Tumble downward'

The BBC's Mark Mardell, in Washington says the cuts are meant to hurt - they were deliberately designed two years ago to be so brutally painful that politicians of left and right would be forced to agree on a better way of balancing the books.

The cuts are split roughly evenly between military and domestic programmes, but effects will be felt over time rather than immediately.

While hundreds of thousands of jobs are expected to be lost, no US government programmes will be closed down entirely. Cuts to healthcare provision for the elderly will be limited.

Continue reading the main story

Where will the axe fall?

• Defence spending will take the biggest hit if the cuts go ahead, losing up to $46bn this year
• Social services and other agencies will not have their budgets slashed, but teachers and other employees will begin to lose their jobs as federal cash runs out
• The Federal Reserve says the cuts would also hit the overall economy, knocking half a percentage point off GDP and pushing unemployment up
• If a new temporary budget is not agreed by 27 March, some parts of the federal government may have to shut down

The scale of cuts will increase gradually over 10 years, totalling $1.1tn by 2023, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

If there is no agreement, they are scheduled to be signed into the federal budget by President Obama by 23:59 local time on Friday (04:59 GMT on Saturday).

When Mr Obama signs an order later on Friday, a process to cut the defence budget by 10% and other programmes by 8.5% will be set into motion.

Millions of federal workers could face up to 22 forced days off without pay this year.

Our correspondent says the cuts will not happen overnight - they will be spread over the next seven months and many think Congress will agree to a deal sooner rather than later.

In the Senate on Thursday, a Democratic plan blocked by Republicans proposed nearly $30bn in future cuts in defence spending and a minimum tax rate on incomes exceeding $1m.

House Speaker John Boehner and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, as well as the Senate's Democratic majority leader Harry Reid and Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell, are due to attend the White House talks on Friday.

Reports say Mr Obama is still hoping to push for a wider fiscal deal to reduce the deficit by $1.5tn (£1tn) over the next 10 years.

But attention will also turn to the next congressional challenge - a possible shutdown of the US government if no funding bill is passed in the next month.

Next budget battle

White House spokesman Jay Carney said there were "no preconditions" on what could be discussed in Friday's meeting.

With Republicans refusing to allow tax rises and Democrats vowing to protect cherished social programmes, Congress is just weeks away from its next budget battle.

On 27 March a temporary federal that has kept the federal government running since 2012 is due to expire.

Failure by Congress to enact a new stop-gap budget could see parts of the federal government shut down.

House Republicans said they would vote on a bill next week to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, on 30 September, but keep in place some automatic cuts taking effect on Friday.

Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the global economic recovery could be harmed by the automatic spending cuts,

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SA 'arrest abuse' police suspended

1 March 2013 Last updated at 06:06 ET

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Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega: "The behaviour displayed in the video... is to be abhorred"

South African police officers implicated in the death of a Mozambican taxi driver dragged down a street tied to a back of a van have been suspended.

The incident was recorded by a bystander and broadcast on television. The man later died in police custody.

Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega thanked people for revealing "callous and unacceptable behaviour".

South African President Jacob Zuma had already condemned the incident as "horrific" and "unacceptable".

Taxi driver Mido Macia, 27, died of head injuries and internal bleeding after his arrest in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg, an initial post-mortem found.

He was reportedly detained for parking his vehicle in a way that blocked traffic.

The video shows a large crowd gathering, as uniformed policemen tie him to a van, dragging him as they drive away.

'Shock and outrage'

The BBC's Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg says a small crowd, mostly of women, gathered on Friday morning outside the police station where the 27-year-old taxi driver died in the holding cells.

Some of the chants are blaming the police of brutality.

Otherwise it seems to be business as usual with police vehicles driving in and out of Daveyton station, our reporter says.

Commissioner Phiyega said that the eight officers allegedly involved had been suspended and disarmed and the local station commander had been removed from his post.

In a statement, the South African Police Service expressed "extreme shock and outrage" at the mobile phone footage.

"From the video which has gone viral, it is obvious that the rights of Mido Macia were violated in the most extreme form," it said.

"The behaviour displayed in that video, when it is committed by police who are expected to serve and protect, is to be abhorred," it added.

In a statement, the opposition Democratic Alliance questioned why Commissioner Phiyega had not ordered the arrest of the officers.

"We need to tackle the causes of police brutality, not just the symptoms," Dianne Kohler , the DA's shadow police minister, added.

South Africa's police force was already under intense scrutiny after officers shot dead 34 striking miners last August.

Its credibility was also dented when it emerged that the lead detective in the murder case against athlete Oscar Pistorius was himself accused of attempted murder.

The police service said it would give its full support to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate as it looked into Mr Macia's death.

"We fully support the principle of police being policed and we shall be transparent about the outcome of the investigation," it said.

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EU agrees to cap bankers' bonuses

28 February 2013 Last updated at 04:56 ET

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David Cameron says regulations need to be flexible enough for UK-based banks to compete internationally

European Union officials have struck a provisional deal on new financial rules, including capping bank bonuses.

Under the agreement, bonuses will be capped at a year's salary, but can rise to two year's pay if there is explicit approval from shareholders.

The UK, which hosts Europe's biggest financial services centre, was opposed to any caps on bank bonuses.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the EU should concentrate on tightening up banks in other ways.

"We are absolutely clear that we must be able to implement the Vickers plan in the UK, which in some ways is tougher than regulations that are being put in place in other European countries.

"We want to have this proper ring fence between retail banks and investment banks and the rules must allow that to happen."

'Restrict growth'

The Vickers plan, based on the Independent Commission on Banking report led by Sir John Vickers, is designed to keep saver and business deposits from being compromised by the more speculative activities typically undertaken by investment banking operations.

London argues the EU's bonus rules would drive away talent and restrict growth in the financial sector.

The UK had been trying to rally other governments in the 27 countries in the EU behind its position.

Top bankers and financial traders can earn bonuses multiple times their base salaries. But there has been public outrage over bonuses following the huge bail-outs of banks.

The agreement was reached during eight hours of intense talks in Brussels between members of the European parliament, the European Commission and representatives of the bloc's 27 governments.

Core business

Othmar Karas, the European Parliament's chief negotiator, said: "For the first time in the history of EU financial market regulation, we will cap bankers' bonuses.

"The essence is that from 2014, European banks will have to set aside more money to be more stable and concentrate on their core business, namely financing the real economy, that of small and medium-sized enterprises and jobs."

But Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, in London, said the cap would backfire. He told the BBC: "It will drive up fixed salaries to compensate. Businesses that do not need to be inside the European Union will leave. And when banks invest in future divisions, it will be outside the EU."

The deal paves the way for Basel III, an overhaul of banking rules.

The G20 group of rich nations had originally planned to bring in Basel III last month, but that has been delayed to January 2014.

Basel III focuses on a ratio of high-quality capital - called tier 1 - which is needed to cushion it against any future shocks. It will rise to 9% after the rules come into effect.

Once the proposals are formally agreed it will start the biggest shake-up of the banking system since the global financial crisis.

The lack of solid financial cushions meant that many banks were vulnerable, and eventually required taxpayer-funded bailouts to avoid bankruptcy.

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Bangladesh Islamist sentenced to die

28 February 2013 Last updated at 05:20 ET

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The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan: Protesters erupted with joy at the verdict

A tribunal in Bangladesh has sentenced Islamist leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi to death for crimes committed during the country's 1971 war of independence.

The Jamaat-e-Islami chief was found guilty of charges including mass murder, torture and rape. He is the most senior figure convicted so far.

His opponents erupted in cheers on hearing the verdict.

Critics of the tribunal have said that the charges against Sayeedi and others are politically motivated.

The Jamaat-e-Islami party rejects the court and has been staging a strike in protest.

Official estimates say more than three million people were killed in the war.

Angry demonstrations

Security was tight around the capital, Dhaka, as the judgement was being read out. On hearing the verdict, protesters gathered at a busy intersection in the city erupted into cheers.

"We've been waiting for this day for the last four decades," one man told local television, the Agence France-Presse news agency reports.

Thousands had staged a protest in the capital on Wednesday, demanding the death sentence be handed down to him.

Continue reading the main story

• Civil war erupts in Pakistan, pitting the West Pakistan army against East Pakistanis demanding autonomy and later independence
• Fighting forces an estimated 10 million East Pakistani civilians to flee to India
• In December, India invades East Pakistan in support of the East Pakistani people
• Pakistani army surrenders at Dhaka and its army of more than 90,000 become Indian prisoners of war
• East Pakistan becomes the independent country of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971

Recent weeks have seen a series of angry demonstrations demanding the execution of Jamaat leaders being tried by the tribunal. But there have also been protests against the court.

Several people have been killed during violent clashes over the issue around the country.

The verdict is the third issued by the controversial tribunal, which is trying a total of nine Jamaat leaders and two members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Sayeedi was accused of working with the Al-Badr group during the independence struggle and carrying out numerous atrocities, including forcibly converting Hindus to Islam.

His critics say that during the war he formed a small group to loot and seize the property of Bengali Hindus and those who supported independence.

The tribunal found Sayeedi guilty of eight out of the 20 charges levelled against him. These were mass murder, torture, rape and forcibly converting Hindus to Islam.

State prosecutor Syed Haider Ali described the verdict as a "victory for the people", AFP reports. But in court Mr Sayeedi protested, blaming the judgement on the influence of bloggers and pro-government forces.

Earlier this month another Jamaat leader, Abdul Kader Mullah, was sentenced to life for crimes against humanity. Huge crowds have been demanding he be executed.

In January, former party leader Abul Kalam Azad was found guilty in absentia of eight charges of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.

In the wake of the public outcry calling for the execution of Abdul Kader Mullah, Bangladesh's parliament earlier this month amended a law which will allow the state to appeal against his life sentence.

The special court was set up in 2010 by the current Bangladeshi government to deal with those accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces who attempted to stop East Pakistan (as Bangladesh was then) from becoming an independent country.

But human rights groups have said the tribunal falls short of international standards. Jamaat and the BNP accuse the current government of pursuing a political vendetta.

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