Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is due to be freed from five years’ captivity on Tuesday in return for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Sgt Shalit was seized in 2006 by Hamas militants who tunnelled into Israel. On Monday, the Israeli Supreme Court turned down an appeal for a 48-hour delay from the families of victims of attacks by Palestinian militants.
The first of 477 Palestinian prisoners due to be freed on Tuesday have now started leaving their jails.
They were all believed to be female and accompanied by Egyptian security personnel, Reuters news agency said.
The remaining 550 are scheduled to be released next month.
(BBC)
October 18, 2011 at 9:20 am
The media chief of militant group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been killed in an air strike in southern Yemen, Yemeni officials say. The defence ministry said Ibrahim al-Banna, an Egyptian national, and six other militants were killed in the attack in Shabwa province on Friday.
Some reports said the attack involved US drones, others that it was by Yemeni planes.
US drones killed the group’s leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, last month.
The Yemeni defence ministry said Banna was killed by Yemeni war planes in Shabwa, a militant stronghold east of Aden, late on Friday.
It called him one of the group’s “most dangerous operatives”, who was wanted internationally for “planning attacks both inside and outside Yemen”.
(BBC)
October 15, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing a key confidence vote in parliament amid questions over his handling of the economy and personal scandals. Mr Berlusconi is expected to survive but the margin could be narrow.
Italy’s government credit rating was recently downgraded and parliament failed to back a key part of the budget this week, triggering the vote.
Mr Berlusconi also faces trial on sex, bribery and abuse of power charges.
(BBC)
October 14, 2011 at 12:11 pm
There are conflicting reports in Libya about the fate of one of ousted leader Col Muammar Gaddafi’s sons. Some figures from the National Transitional Council told news agencies Mutassim Gaddafi had been seized in the family’s embattled hometown of Sirte.
However, officials in the NTC stronghold of Benghazi could not confirm the claims, which have sparked celebratory gunfire in several cities. NTC forces say they now control most of Sirte, following fierce fighting.
There have been false reports of the capture of senior Gaddafi figures in the past, including another son, Saif al-Islam, and Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.
But if confirmed, Mutassim Gaddafi’s capture would be a major breakthrough for the NTC, says the BBC’s Caroline Hawley in Tripoli.
He is a senior officer in Col Gaddafi’s army and was a national security advisor to his father.
The NTC would want to question him as to the whereabouts of his father and other family members such as Saif and another son Khamis – both in Col Gaddafi’s inner circle – analysts say.
(BBC)
October 13, 2011 at 12:07 pm
The Egyptian prime minister has appealed for calm after 24 people were killed in clashes between Coptic Christians and security forces. The violence broke out after a protest in Cairo against an attack on a church in Aswan province last week, which Copts blame on Muslim radicals.
PM Essam Sharaf said discord between Muslims and Christians in Egypt was “a threat to the country’s security”. His comments came after an emergency cabinet meeting and a nighttime curfew.
Speaking in a televised address after touring the area where the clashes had occurred late on Sunday, Mr Sharaf said: “The most serious threat to the country’s security is tampering with national unity, and the stirring of discord between Muslim and Christian sons of Egypt.”
He added that such violence – the worst in Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February – was also “tampering with the relationship between the people and the army”.
(BBC)
October 10, 2011 at 10:28 am
The forces of Libya’s transitional government have fought their way into the centre of Sirte, one of the last cities loyal to ex-leader Col Gaddafi. Columns of smoke rose above the city as government forces fought their way in, street by street, until they reached the Ouagadougou conference centre where pro-Gaddafi loyalists are holed up.
At least 12 people were killed and more than 190 injured, doctors said.
Thousands of civilians have left Sirte but many have remained behind.
The two sides battered each other with mortar shells, rockets and tank fire in what transitional government forces have described as the final assault on Sirte, some 360km (225 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli.
The battle for Sirte comes nearly two months after the former rebels seized control of virtually all of Libya, ousting former leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
(BBC)
October 8, 2011 at 11:09 am
World and business leaders have paid tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who has died at 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said Jobs had changed the world. Microsoft’s Bill Gates said it had been “an insanely great honour” to work with him. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg remembered his “mentor and friend”.
The Twitter microblog site struggled to cope with the traffic of tributes. Apple itself said Jobs had been “the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives” and had made the world “immeasurably better”. Thousands of celebrities and ordinary people went on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to record their tributes and memories of the man behind products such as the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad.he death of Steve Jobs could create a record for Twitter traffic. Thousands of people all over the world have also been attending Apple stores to leave flowers, notes, and apples with a bite taken from them to mimic the company’s logo.
(BBC)
October 7, 2011 at 6:48 am
China and Russia have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria over its crackdown on anti-government protesters. The European-drafted resolution had been watered down to try to avoid the vetoes, dropping a direct reference to sanctions against Damascus.
But Moscow and Beijing said the draft contained no provision against outside military intervention in Syria.
The US envoy to the UN said Washington was “outraged” by the vote.
The result is a huge blow to European and US efforts on the Syria issue, the BBC’s Laura Trevelyan in New York says.
(BBC)
October 5, 2011 at 11:33 am
Police in New York City have freed most of the more than 700 people arrested on Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday during a protest against corporate greed. Fewer than 20 protesters are still held as they are yet to be identified.
Most of those freed were given citations for disorderly conduct and a criminal court summons.
The Occupy Wall Street group, camped in Manhattan’s financial district for two weeks, says it will continue its demonstrations.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department told the BBC the small group still detained were expected to appear at the Manhattan criminal court on Sunday.
(BBC)
October 3, 2011 at 10:42 am
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a major test of her authority, as MPs vote on whether to approve new powers for the EU’s main bailout fund. She faces a rebellion from some of her coalition who fear bailing out Greece is throwing good money after bad.
Meanwhile in Athens, fresh strikes by public sector workers are planned.
The strikes come as international inspectors resume talks with the Greek government to decide whether it has done enough to receive more funds.
If more than 19 members of Mrs Merkel’s coalition rebel against her, she will have to rely on the support of the centre-left opposition to pass the bill on new powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
(BBC)
September 29, 2011 at 10:46 am
A huge clean-up operation is under way in the Philippines after Typhoon Nesat battered the capital Manila and the main island, Luzon. The death toll rose to 18 with 35 still missing after heavy rain and powerful winds triggered storm surges.
Most deaths occurred in and around Manila, officials said.
Nesat is now in the South China Sea with 120km/h (75mph) winds and due to reach China’s Hainan Island on Thursday evening or early Friday.
Power supplies were gradually being restored to central Manila on Wednesday, officials said, and services on the Metro resumed.
However, more than a million people in Luzon remained without power.
Emergency teams were clearing away fallen trees, debris and broken-down cars while schools and offices reopened.
Civil defence chief Benito Ramos said crews were also repairing and clearing 61 road networks across Luzon damaged by landslides, debris and flooding.
Some areas are still under water including Manila Ocean Park and Taft Avenue. The US Embassy, which was flooded on Tuesday, remained closed.
(BBC)
September 28, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Fighters backing Libya’s interim rulers prepared to renew their advance into the coastal city of Sirte on Monday after NATO aircraft bombed targets in Muammar Gaddafi’s home town to sap the resistance of the deposed leader’s troops.
Anti-Gaddafi forces had pushed to within a few hundred meters of the center of Sirte, one of the last bastions of pro-Gaddafi resistance in Libya, but drew back on Sunday while NATO aircraft launched their attacks.
Sirte lies between the capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi, both now held by the National Transitional Council, whose fighters toppled Gaddafi last month, six months into a campaign that is not yet over.
Taking Sirte would be a huge boost for the NTC as it tries to establish credibility as a government able to unite Libya’s fractious tribes and regions, and a blow for Gaddafi, widely believed to be on the run inside Libya.
(Reuters)
September 26, 2011 at 10:20 am
Nasa says its six-tonne UARS satellite penetrated the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean early on Saturday. The spacecraft was expected to fall to Earth by about 0500 GMT – officials say it is not possible yet to give a precise time.
The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is the largest American space agency satellite to return uncontrolled into the atmosphere in about 30 years.
Officials said the risk to public safety was remote.
A statement on the Nasa UARS website read: “The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California said the satellite penetrated the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. The precise re-entry time and location are not yet known with certainty.”
There have been some unconfirmed reports on Twitter that suggested debris might have fallen in western Canada.
Most of the decommissioned spacecraft should simply have burnt up, but modelling work indicated perhaps 500kg could have survived to the surface.
Any pieces of debris should have been scattered over a 800km path; but with more than 70% of the Earth’s surface covered by water, many experts said the pieces were most likely to end up in the ocean.
(BBC)
September 24, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh has returned to the country from Saudi Arabia three months after surviving an assassination attempt, officials say. Yemen TV said President Saleh arrived in the capital, Sanaa, by private plane at dawn. No other details were given.
He went to Saudi Arabia in June for treatment following a rocket attack on the grounds of the presidential palace.
President Saleh, who has been in power for more than 30 years, has faced months of protests urging him to quit.
Correspondents say his return raises the risk of all-out civil war.
“We’re definitely going to have an escalation of violence, but let him come back – we want him to come back and be tried for his crimes,” said protest organiser Mohammed al-Asl.
Activists have been camped out in an area of Sanaa dubbed Change Square since January demanding an end to his rule.
(BBC)
September 23, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Greece is being hit by a 24-hour public transport strike in the latest protest against government austerity measures. Train, bus and taxi services have been crippled and air traffic controllers will stop work for several hours. There will also be a mass protest of public sector workers later in Athens.
The government has toughened its measures, cutting pensions further and suspending more civil servant posts.
It says this must be done to receive a vital 8bn-euro (£6.9bn) tranche of aid.
This is the latest segment of a 110bn euro ($150bn) package of loans established by eurozone countries and the IMF to help Greece pay its huge debts.
The government says its tougher measures are an attempt to secure the continued backing of international creditors and prevent a default on debt payment.
(BBC)
September 22, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Twins who were born joined at the head have been successfully separated by a team of British doctors. Baby girls Rital and Ritag Gaboura, who are 11 months old, were separated on 15 August after four operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
They do not appear to have suffered neurological side effects. Only one in 10 million sufferers survive their rare condition. The Sudanese infants were flown to the UK by the charity Facing the World.
Conjoined twins are very rare and only 5% of conjoined twins are craniopagus, which means they are fused at the head.
About 40% of twins fused at the head are stillborn or die during labour and a third die within 24 hours.
The nature of the twins’ condition meant significant blood flowed between their brains.
(BBC)
September 18, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Afghan forces have killed the last insurgents who attacked the US embassy, Nato headquarters and police buildings in Kabul, after a 20-hour stand-off. The Afghan authorities say a multi-storey building where the gunmen were holed up has now been cleared.
Officials say at least seven people, including four policemen, were killed as well as nine of the insurgents.
The attack, the most complex in Kabul to date, comes as US and other foreign forces begin to withdraw their troops.
Nato and the US embassy said none of their staff were among the casualties.
The Taliban said it was behind the attack, although Afghan officials blamed the Haqqani network, an insurgent group linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda but which operates independently.
Afghan forces worked their way through the multi-storey building which overlooks the heavily fortified diplomatic quarter, exchanging fire with the militants on the floors above well into Wednesday.
Afghan officials then confirmed that all the attackers were dead and the fighting was over.
“Conditions in Kabul city are back to normal and all our countrymen can go about their daily lives without any worries,” said an interior ministry spokesman.
(BBC)
September 14, 2011 at 12:34 pm
